Becoming The Legend
by Rinne-Kami
Summary: Before there was a Legend, there was a Hero. Before there was a Hero, there was a Man. Before there was a Man, there was a Boy. The life story of Minato Namikaze, the future Yondaime Hokage of Konoha.
1. Chapter 1: Beginnings

**A/N:** Yo! FINALLY! Sorry about how long it took to actually get this written, but half was through I realised how crap it was and scrapped the whole chapter. starting from scratch. So if you find this chapter poor, just imagine how bad it was at first, cause this is a thousand times better! Also I haven't been typing at all recently, I haven't even started the new To Become A Master chapter. So that is gonna be next, and I need to start plans for the Chunin exam arc in A Complete Family, Incomplete. Well anyway, this fic (for those who didn't manage to catch the preview) is a Minato centric fic, because he is my favourite charcter in the series, I'm a sucker for blonde hair, blue eyes and pure awesomeness. So this is going to be his back story, his life as an academy student, his life as a Genin, his life as a Chunin, his personal life, his love life, basically everything up to the point where he gets his freak on with Kushina and makes Naruto, and then a little bit after that, with him trying to handle a Jinchuuriki's pregency hormones. Muahahahahaha! That's going to be fun! Well that's pretty much everything I have to say now, I'll clear up a few things at the end, cause I know one factor will certainly leave you going, huh?

Without further ado, I give to you!

**Becoming The Legend**! The actually story this time and not the preview.

* * *

A young boy looked out of the window, captured in his own imagination. The teacher was late again. His chin rested in the palm of his hand, his spiky blonde locks overflowing his hand. His other hand rest in the pocket of his grey hooded jumper, complete with blue strips on the shoulders.

"It's so troublesome when sensei is late." A lazy sigh came from next to him.

"I thought you'd enjoy sensei not being here, Shikaku?" Minato asked the dark haired boy, the boy's drowsy eyes darted to Minato momentarily, before look back at the chalkboard at the front of the class.

"Yeah, but class becomes so troublesome with out him. Everyone gets really loud." Shikaku replied, his finger fiddling in his ear.

"Well, you should enjoy it while you can Shikaku." The boy to the other side of Shikaku commented. Two blue squiggly lines ran down his cheek, his head surrounded in red hair. "It only gets harder from here on out." He continued happily munching on his snacks from home.

Shikaku sighed loudly in depression again. "I might just retire now. But then my mom would probably pop an artery or something if I did, so troublesome." Shikaku closed his eyes, hoping to return to his nap.

The boy chuckled at Shikaku's reaction. Quickly flicking his spiky blonde hair out of his eyes and back into place. His attention was diverted to the sound of attempted suppressed giggles and squeals. He saw a group of girl's staring at him, a common occurrence in their classroom. Their eyes were replaced with hearts when he turned to face them.

"Good morning, Minato-kun!" They spoke in unison.

"Morning!" Minato waved back to them, a large grin appearing on his face.

The sound of delighted squealing filled the room. According to the girls, Minato was unlike the other geniuses. He was the only one to not be arrogant about his abilities, he often praised others for their own work, he didn't isolate himself from the other classmates just by thinking he was better, that he is friendly with everyone he meets. Because of this Minato had quickly become the most sought after boy in his year.

The door to the classroom opened, everyone expected their sensei to walk through the door, and he did, however he was not alone. A young girl with long bright red hair walked in with him.

_'Pretty hair colour.'_ Minato thought to himself as their sensei began giving her introduction to the class. Her name was Kushina Uzumaki. _'Pretty name as well.'_

As per usual their sensei would ask about their dreams for the future. Kushina's case was no different.

"I'm gonna be the first female Hokage!" A brave statement. Unfortunately the other students saw less bravery and more...stupidity. They laughed loudly, insulting her and her dreams, and quickly began calling her Tomato.

_'Because of her round face and bright red hair?'_ Minato questioned the name. It wasn't very nice at all. It would probably be even worse for a new kid to be ridiculed like that.

"Now, now, everyone settle down." Their sensei smiled as he calmed down the class. "There's nothing wrong with having such an ambitious dream, it shows confidence, besides, Kushina here isn't the only one with such a dream, er... Minato, I believe you shared a similar dream."

Minato smiled at his sensei and pointed to himself. " Yeah. I want everyone in the village to acknowledge me and become a great Hokage!"

"You see. So there's no need to be making fun of Kushina here." Sensei smiled at the class.

"Yeah but Minato's the best!" The other students began calling out.

"Yeah, Minato can probably do it, we got no proof that Tomato here will ever amount to anything!"

"Shut up!" Kushina yelled loudly, a blush on her face. "I'll become Hokage way before that sissy looking kid! You'll all see!" With that she ran to the back of the room and sat alone.

_'Sissy!' _Minato was alarmed at her name for him, he wasn't going to say anything because she was hurt herself after being made fun of. Besides he didn't need to, others in the class immediately jumped up in his defence, it was all a bit pointless really. Sensei quickly shut them all up, before starting the day's lesson.

Minato couldn't pay attention in class today, the new girl seemed, intriguing to him. Throughout the day he stole small glances of her from the back of the class. How her violent eyes out shone her bright red hair. How her lips were set in a pout from the students earlier jibes. _'She's actually pretty cute'._

_**-Break-**_

Minato looked at the crowded streets of Konoha, Academy had ended today, same time as every other day, the time they ended was at the same the main rush of the streets happened, people barging past each other, mumbling false apologies.

And he blended right in, despite the big deal everyone made of him at school, he was still a nobody, Konoha preached about being fair and equal to all, yet the ones with Bloodlines were still looked upon in a higher regard than the ones who did not have one, people like him. Minato often wondered what it would be like when he became Hokage, Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju, The Shodaime and Niidaime Hokage both came from the prestigious Senju Clan, the founder of Konoha, royalty. And even if he did not have a Bloodline, that was over looked for the Sandaime, he was the most powerful Shinobi to live, plus he was the son of the legendary ninja Sasuke Sarutobi, a man without equal, who apparently the Shodaime and Niidaime begged to join their village.

_'I can't wait until I become Hokage.'_ Minato thought amused. _'That will all change, the ones with no bloodlines will be shown to be just as powerful than those with them.'_

Minato hadn't been paying attention, his path and lead him towards the Hot Springs of Konoha. The atmosphere of the area heating up instantly. The soft sound of the running stream next to him. The sound of perverse giggling softly echoing through the steam...

Wait. What?

Minato turned around, he had walked straight past a man sitting in a large toad, scribbling in a notebook as he peeped over the wooden fence. His long, white spikey hair flicking about as his head darted from his note book to over the fence. All the while giving off a childish giggle.

Minato stared at the pervert, as a budding shinobi, Minato knew that he had to protect the civilians of Konoha, even from small threats such as this man. Minato approached the man, the man never turning away from his activity. "Stop this now." Minato spoke calmly, in a threatening voice.

The man realised that he was being spoken to, but didn't turn away from the fence. "Go away kid." He stopped giggling for a moment. "Can't you see I'm busy collecting research." His giggling continued. "Oh yes, with this detail, my novel will be a mega hit."

Minato narrowed his eyes at the man's back. This man wasn't going to listen to words, so maybe action would get his attention, Minato would hit him, then using his speed, run like hell to the nearest Shinobi and report the man, who after being attacked, would surely chase after Minato.

Minato rolled his shoulder muscles, positioning himself for a better explosive start, he charged towards the man, the man realised he was about to get, evident by his eyes widening now that Minato could see them, but had no time to counter, Minato struck hard at the man's face with his fist, knocking him off of the toad, which still sat like a stone.

The man grumbled swears to himself as he lifted his face off of the floor, rubbing the struck cheek. "What's your problem kid!" The man whispered, but in a authoritative tone.

Minato, who had been preparing to run like he had never ran before, finally got a good look at the man's face. His eye's widening at the revelation of the man's identity, the red markings starting at his eyes was all the evidence he needed. "J-Jiraiya-sama!" Minato looked at the man, one of the three Legendary Sannin, someone who was comparable to the White Fang of Konoha, Sakumo Hatake, and he had just punched him full force. Minato bowed immediately. "I'm so sorry, Jiraiya-sama!" Minato shouted loudly, completely forgetting where he was.

The splashing of the water and the tops of heads peering over the fence, all glaring at Jiraiya and himself in fury. "What are you two doing here!" One woman asked harshly, many noticed the still toad, directly next to the fence, the assumptions began. Screams of perverts and to kill them rang out. The sound of rushing to the doors, Minato knew he had to get out of here.

"Kid, I suggest that we am scray!" Jiraiya panicked, pointing to a direction away from here, sending the toad back to it's home, Jiraiya sped off before any of the women appeared, Minato soon sped after Jiraiya, following every twist and turn the Sannin made in his escape from the righteous fury of women.

They arrived at a large pond in the 37th training ground, a large ground, used primarily for water nature transformation. Minato and Jiraiya panted and wheezed. "I'm glad you kept up kid." Jiraiya wheezed out. "I would have hated to have to turn around to save you."

"What are you talking about Jiraiya-sama." Minato wheezed out in reply. "I was ahead of you during that run, if anything I would had have to turn around to save you."

Jiraiya regained his breath instantly. "Do you even know who your talking to!" Jiraiya yelled loudly. He quickly began a series of Kabuki poses.

_One of the legendary Sannin_

_Gallant, heroic and never mean_

_Across the globe my face is known_

_My mere name causes women to moan_

_The handsome, the incredible_

_The immaculate, toad sage Jiraiya!_

Jiraiya finished a short poem about himself. Minato squinted his eyes at the Sannin. "I knew who you were, Jiraiya-sama, I did say your name a few minutes ago."

Jiraiya's eyes squinted in return. "Oh a smart mouth, just who the hell are you kid?"

"My name is Minato Namikaze." Minato continued the squinting battle.

"Well Minato." Jiraiya began. "I'm impressed!" His face suddenly changed to a wide grin. "To be able to strike me, then be able to keep up with my speed, you've sparked my interest."

Minato stared at the man. He caught a Sannin's interest. Minato himself grinned much more widely than Jiraiya. Jiraiya ruffled Minato's blonde hair. "Maybe if you pray hard enough, one day you'll become as good of a ninja as me!"

Minato grabbed the man's arm, lifting it off his head. "One day I'll be better than you, Jiraiya-sama. Because I'm headed straight for the top!"

_**-Break-**_

"Quickly kids." Their sensei brought them outside. "Today we are having a small Taijutsu examination, just to see if we are doing our job of making sure you all know at least the basics of Taijutsu."

All the children huddled around the small arena, Minato listened as the sensei explained the rules: Friendly sparring only, no body enhancement jutsu, no Ninjutsu, no Genjutsu, the fight WILL stop when sensei deemed necessary.

Minato listened out for his name first up was Inoichi Yamanaka against the one that the students called in his class 'Grandpa', for a few reasons, apparently it was because of his eternal squinty eyes and ash grey hair. However, it was also for the fact that he was significantly older than everyone else in their class. While Minato and his classmates were ten, this boy was 16, failing the graduation exam 7 times in total. Teuchi Ichiraku. Even some of the teachers were beginning to lose hope in him, Minato pitied him so.

The match was fair, Teuchi used his size and experience against Inoichi, who used his smaller body to out manoeuvre his opponent. The fight ended after a few minutes, sensei writing on a note board.

A funny match for Minato to watch was a member of the prestegious Uchiha clan, Fugaku Uchiha against Mikoto, a quiet girl with black hair pinned upwards at the black and a pair of onyx eyes to match. Fugaku refusing to fight Mikoto and insisting on fighting Minato instead and Mikoto refusing to fight anyone. It ended in sensei just calling the match, so they could move on.

Next was Hiashi Hyuuga against Hizashi Hyuuga, a equal fight, until Hizashi began using gentle fist against his brother, Hiashi responding with a much stronger gentle fist technique, KO'ing his younger twin brother.

After that was Kushina against Choza, Choza being the lovable giant refuse to fight a girl, it resulted in Kushina pummelling Choza for being undermined.

"Next, Minato." Sensei called, followed by a few squeals of applause. "against Shikaku." There was know sign of appreciation. Looking around, Minato's sensei looked around for the drowsy Nara. "Where the hell is Shikaku?" Sensei questioned irritated. Choza, with his swollen hand, pointed to the direction of the large tree, equipped with a swing. Curled up into a ball under the tree's shade was Shikaku, facing away from the group, easy breathing indicating that he was sound asleep.

Minato heard the grinding of his sensei's teeth. "I don't think we should wake him, sensei. He seems quite happy." Minato remarked looking to his sensei.

His sensei only sighed in frustration. "That boy's far too lazy for his own good. He needs to know this stuff." Sensei growled out. "Alright Minato, besides, I know that your Taijutsu far exceeds my expectations." Sensei finished with a smile.

The rest of the fights continued, nothing spectacular, no one after Hiashi able to knock out their opponent, Sensei always calling the match before things got too violent.

Sensei finished writing on his note board. "Alright everyone." He gathered everyone's attention. "There is a special presentation back in the class room on the wonders of Jutsu, so please everyone make there way back into class... and somebody wake up Shikaku!"

_**-Break-**_

The Sandaime Hokage stood at the front of their class, to the children's shock, he had been waiting in the classroom for them to arrive, when they did, he gestured for them to take a seat with a smile.

"Welcome everyone." The Sandaime spoke softly. "I will be giving your special presentation on the world of ninja."

The children gasped in awe and began muttering to themselves at how lucky they were. The Sandaime was the most powerful man in the village. All the children hurriedly rushed to there seats, incredibly silent, Sarutobi knew to begin.

"Now can anybody name how many types of Jutsu a ninja could possess?" Sarutobi called out to the class, instantly shouts of three resounded from every student.

"A lot more than three!" Kushina shouted the loudest, all the students turned to look at her like she was stupid. "Sure there's Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and Taijutsu, but there's also Fūin Jutsu, Kinjutsu, Kenjutsu, Jikukan Ninjutsu. Then there's also Kekkei Genkai and Hidan Jutsu."

Sarutobi smiled widely. "Those are only a few of the many chapters that is the Ninja Handbook. Now as many of you didn't hear about many of those I shall explain them all in more detail." Sarutobi spoke, turning to the chalkboard quickly writing Nin, Gen and Tai. "We will start with the basics."

Minato turned to look at Kushina, 'how did she know so many?' he asked himself curiously, he had hear of Kekkei Genkai as well, anyone with a brain had, but she had named ones that were non-existent in his memory.

Kushina caught his stare, eyeing him up sceptically, before turning back to focus on The Sandaime's words.

Minato also returned to listen to what Sandaime-sama was saying. Maybe one day he could ask her how she knew, but for now, it didn't matter.

_**-Break-**_

"And that's basically everything you need to know about Fūin techniques. Now onto Jikukan, as the name suggests, it involves the manipulation of space and/or time." Sandaime merrily spoke, wiping the board clean of everything he wrote about Fūin Jutsu, blissfully unaware that everyone, including the Chunin instructor was sound asleep by the time he finished detailing Genjutsu.

All except one, Fūin Jutsu astounded Minato, the complexity and preciseness it needed to be properly accomplished. He hung on every word spilled by the Sandaime on the matter. Even now as Sandaime spoke about Jikukan Techniques, both were were incredibly intriguing for Minato.

_'Perhaps I could learn those styles of jutsu.'_ Minato dreamed in his head, he'd very much prefer to learn those techniques.

_**-Break-**_

Another day finished, Minato left the academy slowly, strolling out with his hands behind his head, smiling to the others who waved goodbye. As he walked around he saw a large group of students, creeping up to them, he saw that they were crowding around Kushina, mocking her and calling her Tomato, that she doesn't belong in Konoha because she is an outsider.

Minato looked at the scene with shame. _'I've got to do something.'_ He thought to himself.

Before he could even moved, Kushina went off it. Beating and Pummelling everyone in sight, her long red hair flying around in all directions.

Minato's body froze, he just stared at the scene in shock, Kushina stood in the middle of a bloody battlefield, panting heavily. Minato picked at his hair, he stared at the small white object in between his fingers. _'A tooth!'_ Minato flicked it away, before backing away quickly, he didn't want to be caught anywhere near these kids by Kushina.

Minato came across Teuchi working on his Taijutsu in the academy training ground alone. Minato didn't even want to think this, but Teuchi's skills, when not being measured against another fighter, were poor, really poor. Minato quickly walked on, he found that it would be best if he didn't say anything.

Minato walked on slowly, it was that time of the month anyway, he moved towards the shopping district of Konoha, to pick up his order.

_**-Break-**_

The overwhelming aroma of a thousand flowers hit Minato as soon as he opened the door of Yamanaka's flower shop. A multitude of colour erupted in Minato's vision, he could never get used to the atmosphere of this small shop, no matter how many times he entered.

"Yo, Minato!" Inoichi waved him over from behind the counter. "You don't know how lucky you are, you can spend time training while I'm stuck here in this shop. I'd like to be honing my techniques as well." The long blonde haired boy whined as Minato approached him.

"Don't think of it like that, Inoichi." Minato smiled weakly. "I think it's good that you're helping out your parents in the shop."

Inoichi rested his head onto his palm, huffing heavily. "But flowers are so girly you know. It's troublesome."

"Your spending way too much time with Shikaku." Minato chuckled after Inoichi mimicked the dark haired boy's catchphrase.

Inoichi only grumbled. Before quickly snapping the fingers in his free hand. "Which reminds me..." Inoichi say moving into the back room, Minato could hear rustling about, Inoichi soon returned with two large bouquets of flowers, both identical to the other down to minute details, every flower was set in the exact same place as the other. Perfect. "You're order's ready." Handing the bouquets to Minato.

"Thank you." Minato gave his gratitude, handing Inoichi the money for them. Inoichi nodded his head as his own form of gratitude while taking the cash.

"I know I shouldn't be asking this. But every month you get the exact same order, there's never anything different about it. I guess I'm just curios, but what do you do with them?" Inoichi asked.

Minato looked towards the floor. "It's something I'd rather not talk about." Minato responded quickly. "See you later, Inoichi." Minato's face quickly turned to a smile, before walking out of the shop before Inoichi could respond.

Minato quickly walked through the streets of Konoha, on route towards his destination. Konoha cemetery. The loudness of Konoha's streets vanished in an instant. The only sound was the wind gently blowing on the trees, making the leaves flutter about. The wind was always slightly stronger in the cemetery.

Minato knew exactly where he was going. He manoeuvred around the graves, making sure as to not step on them. He arrived at the site of the two graves that struck out the most to him in this valley of symmetrical headstones. Slowly he removed his previous offerings and replaced them with the new bouquets, one for each of the graves. Minato took a minue of silence to offer prayers. Before finally speaking.

"You wouldn't believe what happened today." Minato smiled as he spoke to the stones. "I met Jiraiya-sama of the Sannin a couple of days ago, he was a bit stupid, but he was really funny. And there was a Taijutsu test today at the academy, but I got matched up against Shikaku, so I didn't actually have to do anything." Minato chuckled softly, letting it die down by itself.

"There's also a new girl in my class. She moved her from another village. She has this really pretty red hair. Her name's Kushina Uzumaki, the same last name as Mito-sama, I wonder if they are related. If they are than Kushina might be headed for a long life like Mito-sama." Minato continued, smiling at the headstones.

"I also wonder... if you can see me, are you proud of what you are seeing, I do my best in school and all, and I want to be strong. I would just really like to know... Are you proud of me?" A tear left Minato's eye without his permission, wiping away the wetness with his sleeve he stood up. "I'll be back again in a month. Next time I come to see you, I'll be that little bit stronger. Mom. Dad." Minato smiled at the graves one last time before heading away from the cemetery, allowing the sun to set over it.

* * *

**A/N:** Phew! Job done. Well, what did you think? As hard as it was to write, I actually really enjoyed rereading it through myself. Remember, Read, Enjoy and Review! Now, the few things I need to clear up.

Teuchi Ichiraku: Yes the guy that owns the Ramen stand, you probably are wondering why I added him as a much older academy student, and that will become clear later on, as to his role. Go on Narutopedia and look up Team Jiraiya, there you will see Minato and his tea mates. Now this just might be me or does Minato's team mates look an awful lot like Mikoto (Sasuke's mom) and Teuchi.

Dead parents: Pure laziness. This was one of the factors I didn't like about the original story, his parents were still alive, and I didn't want to make an large amount of huge role OC's because then you forget who the hell's speaking (I know I do). So they're dead. A story as to how they died will be revealed in due time, just wait.

Sensei without a name: Honestly, can't be bothered giving him a name, just can't find one I like. And he won't even appear much longer, there's not much you can have an academy student do, so I want Minato graduating ASAP, probs chapter 3.

I do not know when the next chapter will be up, expect the new year as the latest date, but I've only got two days left at college, then I'm off for Christmas. So my writing will probably double then.

Til next time!

Rinne-Kami, Out!


	2. Chapter 2: Bonds forming

A/N: Yo! First of all. Oh Wow! So many nice reviews, it was so nice that I began chapter 2 right away (that and I'm doing anything to avoid writing the new chapter for To Become A Master) so ahaem, To **Loveorhate14**, **ChosenMibhar**, **ZuzVaiyo**, **Princess of blah blah blah**, **Karishiana**, **nine-orchids** and **Forgotten Werewolf** thank you very much, a very, VERY shiny penny for each of you. Thanks to you this fic was updated half the time that I had schelduled it to finish and be updated. I guess that's the power of reviews for you (hint, hint).

That being said, once again this chapter was quite hard for me to write, because I don't know anything about Minato's past, I have no key dates to move towards to or anything, but it's still really fun to write, and plus I'm trying to fit everyone's ages right. I'm working off of Sasori's age of fifteen when he abandons his village and kills The Kazekage, because around then is when the Third Shinobi war is instigated. Plus I need to get Kakashi's birth and Sakumo's demise fitted in as a major point in the story line.

Well that's it. I'll see you at the end of the chapter where I'll have a run down of the numbers and explain a few things.

* * *

The sound of tapping echoed throughout the room, Minato and Shikaku both sat on opposite ends of the board, the only thing besides them occupying the empty room.

"Why do you always insist on playing this game every time we hang out?" Minato asked as he moved a new piece into position.

"Because. Shogi is relaxing, but at the same time, teaches how to make strategies on the spot. At least, that's what my dad says, and it's to troublesome to suspect he's lying." Shikaku spoke, playing his own pieces. "Besides, the only reason you don't want to play is because I beat you every single time."

Minato scowled at Shikaku, before turning back towards the board, playing a new piece down, and taking one of Shikaku's he smirked. "Hey Shikaku..."

"I hope this isn't about Kushina." Shikaku sighed. Playing another piece on the board.

Minato was taken back. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, you're always trying to talk about her." Shikaku smirked. "You have a little crush on her don't you, it's okay, it's to troublesome to repeat it, so it's safe with me."

"It's not that." Minato defended himself. "It's just that she interesting, you know. Like, where did she come from, how strong is she really?" That was the truth, she was interesting, Minato didn't even know where she came from.

"Hm. That's not what the blush on your face is telling me." Shikaku let out a dry chuckle.

Minato's back straightened. "I'm not blushing!" He spoke loudly, trying to look and see his own cheeks.

Shikaku smiled again, before placing his final piece down. "I win again."

_**-Break-**_

The many academy children ran around the academy grounds, throwing paper shuriken at each other, a game suggested by the academy senseis, no doubt to help build teamwork and aim. However not everyone took part, Minato currently sat at the stairs of the back door of the academy, partially being out of the sun's harsh rays of heat. He wasn't alone, he sat with Shikaku, Inoichi and Choji.

"Hey guys!" They turned to see a girl with spiky messy brown hair running towards them, her cheeks branded with the red fangs of Inuzuka. "I just overheard the all the sensei, the graduation exams at the end of the month, their announcing it to us at the end of the day."

"Really Tsume." Inoichi sounded pleased. "Finally we can get out of here."

"And were already tight with the Rookie of the Year!" Tsume grinned throwing her arm around Minato's neck, pulling him down with the force she did it at.

"What makes you so sure that I'm going to be Rookie of the Year." Minato groaned as he tried to free himself from Tsume's grip.

"Them talking about the exams wasn't the only thing I heard." Tsume grinned, rubbing her fist against Minato's scalp. "I also overheard sensei boasting about what the perfect student you are!"

Minato fought against the girls fist, pulling his head out of her arm lock, his back shot up, from the one eye that wasn't closed in pain, he saw Kushina sat alone on the swing tied to the tree, even from the distance he was from her, he could still see how her face was set in a saddened expression.

"And all the other sensei were jealous at how sensei got you in his class, you should have heard them, they were worse than your fan girls! Oh, Minato is such a hard worker, and he willingly helps everyone with a smile, he is never overconfident and is always putting a smile on everyone's faces." Tsume turned to look at an extremely embarrassed Minato, but he didn't look embarrassed at all, in fact it didn't look like he was paying attention at all. He just stared blankly at the new girl, Kushina. A sly grin grew on Tsume's face. "Whatcha staring at?" She played with him.

"She's always alone." Minato quietly mumbled, perhaps even unaware that he was answering. "I've never seen her even talk to anybody else."

"Then go talk to her. She could use the company if she's always so alone." Inoichi grinned, prodding Minato in the shoulder with his elbow.

"I don't think I should." Minato responded. He didn't know what to say to her.

"It's troublesome, I know. But everyone likes talking to you Minato." Shikaku answered, sighing. "That's why I'm glad I'm mediocre, not some pretty boy like you, what a troublesome future you have in store for yourself."

"You know, that doesn't make me feel more comfortable about this." Minato responded, looking at his lazy friend.

The sound of Choza sighing struck them all. Choza was the most tolerant guy they all knew, Choza enlarged his arm several times and with a quick sharp push to Minato's back, sent him flying in Kushina's direction. Those left standing with him looked at Choza like he was crazy. "I just felr like he needed a push in the right direction, you know." Choza grinned, before opening a new pack of chips, turning to face the scene he had just created.

_**-Break-**_

Minato skidded just a few feat in front of the swing, stopping himself. He turned to face his group of friends with a glare, all stood waving at him, big grins plastered on their faces. He turned back around to see Kushina sat on the swing, her face still set with a sad expression, her head hadn't tilted up to face him. Her head stared at the ground, before her eyes darted to his feet. He head slowly shifted upwards, soon she was staring him straight in the eyes, her face had shifted to an angry glare. "Well, if it isn't the flake. What do you want?" She spat out quite harshly.

Minato ignored the comment, quite frankly he practically ignored everything she just said, he wasn't prepared to talk to her yet. Sure he could talk to Tsume fine and when other girls approached him first it was easy to talk to them, but when he had to start the conversation it was nervewracking. "Er... I just wanted to see if you're okay." Minato replied honestly. "You seemed kind of upset."

"What do you care?" She replied just as harshly as before.

Minato gulped, this was harder than he expected. "Well, I-"

"You don't care at all." Kushina spoke before Minato could. "You're just the same as everyone else here. A spoiled brat." Kushina stood up to face him at eye level. "In fact, you even more than that." She smiled at him, it wasn't a friendly smile, but it wasn't fake either. "You're also a flaky little girl." With that she barged past Minato and began stomping inside.

Minato allowed his body to be spun around, he watched her walk inside. Despite all the insults she had thrown at him, one thought ran constantly through his young mind.

_'She is definitely not okay.'_

_**-Break-**_

"Jiraiya, Orochimaru." Sarutobi looked at two of his three students, standing on the opposite side of his desk. One looked uneasy, the other looked impassive. "Anything on her?"

Jiraiya shook his head slowly. "Tsunade refuses to see anyone, the only person she does see is Dan's brother.**(1)**."

"Ah yes, that poor boy, losing both his older brother and his younger sister. This Second Great War affected many people multiple times." Sarutobi shook his head in shame, a misinterpretation by Iwagakure against Konoha had escalated into a full blown war. He gave his gratitude to Kirigakure, avoiding participating in a war for the second time.

"Is there something you needed us for, Sarutobi-sensei?" Orochimaru quickly spoke.

Sarutobi looked up. "Oh yes." He smiled, pulling out a large portfolio. "The academy graduation exam is in a few weeks and we need reputations quick. Konoha can't stand safe in the shadows of The Legendary Sannin and The White Fang for much longer." Sarutobi explained. "We need something that can bring happiness to everyone in Konoha, and hopefully, happiness to the world. We need something that the world has never seen."

"I think we understand sensei." Jiraiya spoke seriously, alarming Sarutobi.

.

.

.

"I'll get to work finishing my novel right away."

Sarutobi fell off his chair. "No you idiot!" Sarutobi yelled in annoyance as he stood back up. "This portfolio is of everyone who we expect to pass this year, as The Sannin, I was planning to give you two the opportunity to pick your teams. Unfortunately Sakumo can not. We need one of the legends not stuck doing D-Rank missions or helping to restore the village." Sarutobi smiled. "And your reputations will grow if people know your taking a team under your wing."

Orochimaru only shrugged his shoulders and began flicking through the portfolio. Jiraiya stood there impassively. "I still don't see why I need to babysit a bunch of brats." Jiraiya squinted his eyes.

"Well Jiraiya, taking a team is very much like bringing up children, you must nurture them and make sure they grow into respectable members of society, make sure they grow strong and wise. You would become like a father to them, and women love men who can prove themselves to be good fathers." Sarutobi smirked, the response was instantaneous. Jiraiya had leapt from his standing spot and dived towards the book, almost throwing Orochimaru into the wall. Jiraiya's face was glued to the book, giggling madly as he flicked through it. _'Thankfully Jiraiya's so easy to manipulate.'_ Sarutobi giggled in his own mind.

"There is no one in there that interests me, Sarutobi-sensei." Orochimaru had recovered and finished looking through the book, he was leaving the room slowly. "I'll return to my training now."

That wasn't the reason, as Jiraiya said, Orochimaru, couldn't see why he should have to babysit a bunch of kids.

Sarutobi sighed as he looked at his favourite student, Orochimaru, like Tsunade had also become more reclusive as of late.

Jiraiya continued flicking through the book, he stopped instantly when he saw a familiar face, that blonde kid from a couple of weeks ago, what was his name, Ninato, Minati, Minoto. "I'll take him." Jiraiya spoke, pointing to Minato's academy photo.

Sarutobi looked at Jiraiya choice and smiled. "Oh. Did you know that he was top of his class, and even better than the year above him."

"So the kid is good!" Jiraiya spoke looking at Minato's picture again.

"So you know him?" Sarutobi inquisitively asked.

"Yeah I met him once, there I was researching and this kid just comes along and hits me in the face, then we had to run away and he managed to keep up with me. He impressed me." Jiraiya rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he repeated the story.

Sarutobi only sweatdropped. "Just make sure you don't corrupt him, Jiraiya."

Jiraiya looked insulted. "Have I ever corrupted someone?" Jiraiya asked aloud, his mind flipped back to an orange haired boy, dressed in a toad suit, the same perverse grin plastered on his face**(2)**. "Probably best no one answers that." Jiraiya mumbled out, a sweatdrop of his own appeared. Silently he continued flicking through the book.

He stopped at a girl with her black hair pulled upwards, with a pair of black eyes to match. "She'll be a real beauty when she grows up. I'll take her." Jiraiya grin. Sarutobi mumbled something incoherently, but sounded like; 'I don't think I should allow that.'

Jiraiya stopped in the book once again. It was that boy he had been hearing about, being in the academy seven years and still not passing. "Sensei." Jiraiya spoke. "If this kid doesn't pass, I'm only taking a two-man team, and I'll pick this kid as my third official apprentice." Jiraiya spoke with a smile, pointing at Teuchi's picture. "He must be sick and tired of seeing those academy gates."

_**-Break-**_

Minato watched his friends leave with their parents, all his friends were the future clan heads, children of the current clan heads. There was Choji and his father, Rinshi-me Akimichi**(3)**. An incredibly large man, Minato had never seen a man his size. With incredibly long dark red hair, almost touching his calves. He had two spike markings on his cheeks as opposed to Choza's squiggly lines.

Then there was Inoichi and his father, Yaseibuta Yamanaka**(4)**, he slender man with a similar hairstyle to Inoichi, however his hair was an orange colour, as opposed to Inoichi's platinum blonde hair.

Tsume had left with her mother, Bikou Inuzuka**(5)**, her cheeks set with the same stark red Inuzuka fangs that Tsume had. The Inuzuka clan had a system where the head of clan was always female, mainly because the husbands of Inuzuka women would always be scared away. Her hair was just as messy and brown as Tsume's, only longer.

Minato stood with Shikaku, watching the children leave with their parents, it seemed to Minato that he was the only one who lost both his parents in the war.

"Oh, there's my dad." Shikaku sighed. Pointing to the man walking towards them. He was a well built man, not as large as Choza's dad, but was still pretty big. Minato noted that Shikaku's dad had the most amazing facial expression ever created. His eyes were incredibly stern, however they were lazy at the same time. His hairstyle was similar to Shikaku's, black and pulled back into a spiky ponytail.

"Hello, Reiyou-san**(6)**." Minato greeted the man, he spoke to Reiyou regularly, as he was around his house with Shikaku a lot of the time.

"Hello Minato." Reiyou nodded towards the blonde boy, before turning to his son. "Let's go Shikaku, if your first graduation exam is in a few weeks, I want you absolutely prepared for it." Reiyou looked sternly at Shikaku, who only sighed.

"So troublesome!" Shikaku whined loudly. "I'll see you later Minato, if dad doesn't kill me with all his training." Shikaku smiled as he lazily waved goodbye, walking away with his dad.

Minato smiled and waved in return, however once they had passed out of the academy gates he was left completely alone. His smile faltered as his hands dropped into his jacket pockets. He quickly walked out of the academy grounds, unaware that he had been watched the entire time.

_**-Break-**_

Kushina sat on the swing under the tree again, she wasn't waiting for anybody to come and collect her, no one would anyway, she had lost everything with the war, her village, her family, even her entire country, and Konoha whined about the few losses it experienced, and it left her bitter. She didn't know why she was brought to Konoha yet, she was told that she would find out after she graduates the academy.

Kushina watched the many kids leave with either one or both of their parents, their faces lit up with smiles as they relayed their days events to their parents. She stared at them with a harsh glare, but there was something inside her besides anger. Was it jealousy? Envy that her mother and father were unable to come and pick her up from school. Jealous that some of these children had siblings to go home to and retell their days story for a second time, and receive praise for doing absolutely nothing, when her own older brother had been lost with the collapse of her village.

She saw the last two remaining, the dark haired boy that was always sleeping and the flaky one who had tried to speak to her today. A man came who looked like the lazy one appeared, collecting him and began walking off. Leaving the blonde one alone. He smiled and waved goodbye to them, but as soon as they left Kushina watched the boy's face do something that she hadn't seen for the whole time she knew him. His face fell to a saddened expression. He quickly walked out of the academy grounds alone.

'_They're probably off being so fabulous ninja that they don't have the time to pick him up._' Kushina snorted in her own mind. They boy trying to talk to her today had riled her up, he and his friend were the only ones to never say anything about her hair. Had he finally begun his assault on her as well? Kushina wouldn't stand for it, she quickly began tailing him, following his every movement.

They arrived, from Kushina's viewpoint, in one of the worst districts in Konoha, it had been one of the districts that had been built quickly to provide housing to those who had lost theirs during the war. The one that blondie approached was high rise, and was built shabbily, instead of taking the stairs, he jumped up the balconies. Moving in to one of the inner doors on the higher floors. Kushina looked in one of his windows, the rooms were small, his whole house was small, much smaller than the one she had been given when she arrived, it was built more nicely to, her house was like royalty compared to his.

_'So this is where the top of the class lives.'_ Kushina suddenly felt bad, now that she thought about it. Blondi- Minato had never been arrogant or abusive to anyone, he had always been willing to help everyone anyway he could, perhaps he was just trying to be friendly. Or maybe it was all so she would let her guard down?

Minato jumped back out one of his windows and had sped away before Kushina had time to move around the balcony to see where he had gone, he lost her. Or she lost him, Kushina didn't like to admit it, but the blondie, despite looking like a flaky wimp, was actually pretty cute.

_**-Break-**_

Minato arrived at one of the training grounds within Konoha, upon arriving he saw Shikaku lounging underneath one of the trees.

"Shikaku?" Minato quizzed, walking towards his lazy friend. "Aren't you supposed to be training with your dad?"

Shikaku slowly got to his feet. "Yeah, but my mom asked me to come get you, she wants you to come over for dinner. Geez, I wish she was as nice as she was to you as she is to me, how troublesome." Shikaku sighed.

Minato looked confused, it wouldn't be the first time he went round for dinner at Shikaku's. Shikaku's mom was always looking after him, in fact she was the one who took care of him after his parents died, apparently she and his mom were close friends.

"Alright. Minato smiled. "What time?"

"That's the thing, my dad wants you to come right away." Shikaku confessed, seeing Minato's confused look, he explained. "This is what my dad said: "This is a dangerous time we live in, we are just coming out of a World War, therefore the graduation exam will consist of the Genin hopeful proving their ability to perform a Jutsu above the three academy standard Jutsu." Shikaku sighed.

Minato looked like he needed to have it explained to him again. "Basically my dad wants to teach you a jutsu that will allow you to pass, but don't expect a Nara clan Hidan Jutsu." Shikaku winked.

Minato smiled, his parents had died four years ago, but through the Nara family, he always remembered what it was like to have a family, and he wished to have that for himself someday.

"Let's go then." Minato beamed, he was about to run towards his Shikaku's house, when he turned to look at Shikaku casually walking.

"I've done my running for today, we're walking." Shikaku sighed, putting his arms behind his head, he overtook the standing still Minato, who looked at him incredulously.

"You know that you're laziness will probably be the death of you.2 Minato stated, staring at Shikaku's back, before he began catching up to him.

"No." Shikaku sighed. "A woman will be the death of me."

* * *

A/N: Well what do you think, review please. All in all, I liked the chapter, it kept the theme of family going, as well as a bit of development as to why Kushina dislikes Konoha. Maybe I could explain better here, Konoha acts like it suffered greatly, that because of that suiffering it can move to peace. But Kushina sees it in a different light, because she is not from Konoha. Her entire country was wiped out, and then she comes to Konoha, what preaches about understanding her pain when it still remains the most powerful village standing. If that makes sense.

**(1)** - If Shizune is Dan's niece, he needed another sibling somewhere, if his younger sister died, sure she could be Shizune's mom, but I didn't like that idea.  
**(2)** - That was Yahiko, if you flick back to the manga, i forget which chapter, but it's the one when all the Ame Orphans go home (I'm trying to explain, without given away the purpose of the chapter, and for me it was heartbreaking (Konan's hot. Although saying that, she must be nearing the 40's mark)  
**(3)** - Rinshi-me hopefully means Lepidoptera, unless Google Translate is lying to me, hey we all must have seen the "White people stole my car" Scandal. Anyway, Lepidoptera is the order (Biological term for taxonomic rank) that Butterflies and Moths belong to. I didn't want to use something as uncreative as Chojima, Inochaka and Shikarama.  
**(4)** - Yaseibuta hopefully means feral pig, I just scrunched the two words together to make the word, i do hope that Yaseibuta doesn't mean something dirty.  
**(5) - **Bikou was hard, I couldn't tell if it soundd more like a girl's name or a boy's name, so I just made it a girl. What Bikou can mean hopefully is muzzle of a dog.  
**(6)** - Reiyou hopefully means Antelope, he might be a prominent character, he might not, I have no concept designs for him aside from his face. So I might need to draw him out first.

Now some of you may have been drawn to Kushina's brother and that might have put you off, don't worry, he won't be joining Konoha or anything, but he will play an important role in the development of the relationship between Kushina and Minato as well as the inspiration for the Rasengan, so he won't be seen for a while, I'm still trying to decide whether or not he'll be alive. That's just some of my idea, one of the many roads.

Well I've wrote a bundle load and you're probably not even reading this now, so my next chapter will be up soon. but I really, really, REALLY, need to start To Become A Master's new chapter, I've been given a lot of advice on writing techniques and I want to prove that they haven't wasted their time.

Til next time.

Rinne-Kami, Out!


	3. Chapter 3: Destinies Begin

A/N: Yo! There! This chapter was winking me in the face, so I could leave it alone. sO I've gone back over it. Added about 600 words, and honestly it's better than it was before. I hope if you've read the first type of it you can realise that as well.

Basically just the same plot as before, just added little snippets, detailed things a bit more.

Well that's it.

* * *

"Congratulations, the written section of the exam is now over." Sensei beamed at the class, relieved sighs echoed. "We will move on to the practical section now. You will be asked to perform 4 Jutsu in total. The academy standard three: Henge, Kawirimi and Bunshin, after successfully performing those three, you will be asked to perform a Jutsu you have learned outside of those three, it can be any form of Ninjutsu." Sensei explained in detail. "Now if everybody is ready we shall begin. Choza Akimichi, you're first." Sensei called out, walking back into the private room.

Choza gulped and cursed the first letter of his name. Minato smiled at him to give him even the smallest amount of support. Choza nervously entered the private room, as soon as the door shut the silent class erupted in murmurs. Murmurs of how the look on Choza's face was unsettling. Of how they predicted that he might fail. Murmurs of bets being place. Minato frowned at the groups making the bets.

"Do you think Choza's gonna be alright?" Inoichi whispered to Minato and Shikaku, who both sat in the seats in from of him. He was obviously worried, evident by the look on his face.

"He'll be fine, Choza's good." Minato responded, he had the utmost faith in his larger friend.

"I don't know. He didn't look to confident?" Inoichi continued, looking up at the now closed door to where the practical exam was taking place.

"You should have a little more faith in in him." Minato responded yet again. Shikaku silently nodded in agreement. Choza had always been there to support them, at least, if only for this one time, they could do the same for him.

_**-Break-**_

"Minato Namikaze." Sensei called out, the room filled with silence once more, all eyes darted to Minato as he moved towards sensei, through the door to the private room, where sensei closed the door behind him.

It was at that moment Minato learned that you could hear the murmurs from the other room through the walls. His mind flicked back to when he was waiting his turn, how many in the classroom murmured bets about who would pass or fail when they entered the room. Unfortunately for him their was no such bet as to would he pass or fail, his became if he would make rookie of the year or not.

"Now then, Minato." Sensei brought him out of his thoughts. "Start with the _**Henge**_ please."

"Yes." Minato nodded, bringing only the necessary amount of chakra needed, Minato transformed into a perfect replica of the Shodaime Hokage. Waiting for sensei to nod in approval Minato reverted back to his small blonde self.

"Good, Minato. Now I will need you to perform the _**Bunshin**_ technique." Sensei asked. Again, within the minimal chakra need Minato created a simple clone of himself, it waved at sensei, before dispersing again.

"Excellent. Now the _**Kawirimi**_, if you please." Minato, substituted himself with the broomstick at the opposite end of the room. Waiting for a moment for sensei to continue. "Top marks Minato!" Sensei beamed. "Now for your own jutsu learned outside of the academy, please perform it."

Minato nodded, focusing his Chakra he vanished in a puff of smoke, standing in his original position above the broomstick.

"The _**Shunshin**_ Jutsu?" Sensei seemed ecstatic. "So far most of the student have performed another E-Rank Jutsu. So performing an D-Rank technique has boost your marks higher then the rest, Minato. Combining that with your perfect scores in everything else this year. I can officially name you without any worries, the Rookie of the Year."

Minato smiled widely. "Please come and collect your Konoha headband and be recognised as a Genin of Konoha." Sensei offered out a headband in his hand. Minato approached the headband slowly. Every step he took inched him closer to his dreams.

"Thank you, sensei." Minato whispered, taking the Konoha headband, staring at the insignia in the middle of it for a moment, he tied the headband around his forehead, pulling the front bangs out to hang over them, he bowed to his sensei, before walking out of the room.

He heard sensei sighing in frustration behind him. "Shikaku's next. Let's get this over with."

_**-Break-**_

Minato and Shikaku stood outside waiting for Inoichi. He was the last to take the exam. So far all of his friends had passed the exam and became Genin, all that was needed was Inoichi to complete the set.

Inoichi soon appeared, a cocky grin plastered on his face, spinning the headband on his finger. "So you've passed." Shikaku pointed out the obvious.

Inoichi's grin widened. "Yep."

"What did you use for the custom jutsu?" Minato asked curiously.

Inoichi chuckled like the kid he was. "I use the Mind-Body switch technique on sensei. And made him pass me with high marks. Sensei was so impressed that he let me keep them." Inoichi laughed loud, while Shikaku let out a dry chuckle next to him.

"Well anyways, Inoichi. You should feel quite honoured to call the Rookie of the year my friend." Shikaku smirked, his finger pointing lazily to Minato. "I heard Fugaku and the Hyuuga twins took quite a serious blow to their little ego's there."

"Shikaku, sorry about..." Minato began, finding it difficult to get out what he was trying to say.

"What? That I got named Dead last? The title doesn't mean anything." Shikaku yawned, lifting his head to look up at the sky. "How did you know anyway?"

"You could here sensei shouting it at you from here." Minato replied innocently, it was quite bad really when sensei's voice filled the air in anger.

"However, I'm impressed by Kushina. She's only been in the academy a few months and she got a pretty decent score, it's quite impressive." Inoichi spoke, looking over to the direction Kushina was.

"I thought the scores were confidential?" Minato responded.

"They are. She came out boasting how she aced the exam in a few months and still got a better score than most of us." Inoichi replied, chuckling slightly. She was alright.

Minato looked over to way she stood, more like sat. She sat alone on the academy swing in the academy, she was gazing intently at the smiling faces of the students being greeted by their parents.

"Yeah, there's something more about her. Something that doesn't meet the eye." Minato thought aloud. Analysing her stare. He heard a small chuckle next to him. Shikaku looked at him with a knowing smirk on his face.

"You know, I've told you a thousand times, if you wanted to you could use that pretty face of yours to get some information on her." Shikaku nudged him with his elbow. "It's troublesome to say, but it might work."

"No." Minato smiled, pushing Shikaku away gently, staring back over to where Kushina sat. "I'm not gonna play her like that."

Shikaku only shrugged. "Good call. You've seen her temper, right. She probably scar your face for life. Girls are so troublesome."

_**-Break-**_

Minato placed two new bouquets down, giving a small prayer for his parents before he began speaking. "I've passed. I'm officially a Shinobi of Konoha. And I've passed at a good time, because the Chunin exams are only in a few months, perhaps I'll pass them as well. Oh, and Shikaku got named dead last, the look on his parents faces. Reiyou-san looked kinda proud, but Shikaku's mom looked like she was going to faint." Minato chuckled lightly.

"Even Kushina passed and she's only been here a few months. I was quite surprised, but at the same time I wasn't, it just seemed like good things were gonna happen for her. She's quite mysterious really, I think it's her exotic red hair, I've never seen anything like it."

Minato stopped himself after that. _'Why do I talk about her so much, does she interest me that much?'_ He asked himself. It was true every time Shikaku said it, he talked about her a lot. He liked talking about her, could Shikaku have been right about the crush. Shaking the thoughts from his head, he continued for why he was here.

"Our team placements are tomorrow. I don't mind who I get teamed up with, just as long as we can work together. That and I just hope my sensei isn't too weird." Minato chuckled again, louder this time.

_**-Break-**_

"And so the final three teams will consist of Minato Namikaze, Mikoto and Teuchi Ichiraku under one team and Shikaku Nara, Choza Akimichi and Inoichi Yamanaka under another. There fore the last team will be Fugaku Uchiha, Tsume Inuzuka and Shibi Aburame." Sensei finished delivering the the final team placements, looks of confusion were present of all the students faces. "What is it?"

"Who's Shibi Aburame?" A newly promoted Genin asked for the entire class.

This time it was their sensei that held the confused look. "He's been sat in that same seat all year, right at the front." Sensei pointed to the boy sat in the corner, a hood over his head, and a pair of sunglasses blocking his eyes.

All of the Genins' eyes moved towards the seat where sensei was pointing to. Sure enough, a boy sat there. The Genin sat next to him almost leapt out of his skin. "Ahh! S-Sorry man, I didn't see you there." He gasped for air.

"Hmm." Was Shibi's only response, pushing his sunglasses back up his face with his finger.

Sensei looked at the class weirdly. "Anyway...stay here, your senseis will be arriving shortly to collect you." Sensei finished, head had began to walk out of the room, when he was stopped.

"Wait sensei!" Kushina called out from across the class. "You forgot about me and the copycats." She spoke, pointing to the Hyuuga twins.

Sensei blinked a few times. "Oh sorry. Hizashi Hyuuga and Hiashi Hyuuga will be receiving special training from the Hyuuga clan head. Kushina, someone very special has requested that they take you under their wing alone. Here. This is their location, you may go and meet them there." Sensei replied, handing her the small piece of paper. Kushina hastily took off out of the room. Minato watched her leave, special training?

"What do you think it is?" Shikaku whispered right in Minato's ear, startling him.

"I don't know." Minato spoke quite loudly, holding his arms up as guards.

Minato's ear targeted a very interesting conversation.

"Hey, did you hear. Apparently one of the Sannin are taking on a team this year."

"No way! I wonder which one it'll be?"

"I hope it's Orochimaru-sama, he's so strong."

"Ew, no. Orochimaru-sama's creepy. I hope it's Jiraiya-sama, his antics I hear about always make me laugh."

"Yeah but he's not as strong as Orochimaru-sama, you won't learn as much through him."

"I WANT IT TO BE TSUNADE-SAMA BECAUSE SHE'S HOT!"

Everyone turned to the boy who boldly proclaimed it. They're faces all read the same expression. Wooow. The boy held up his hands, as if to be judged and boldly looked around the room, specifically to every male in there, waiting for them to back up his statement.

They didn't. Or they just didn't want to say it as well. They boy mumbled something about traitors and sat back down in a humph, scowling badly.

An awkward silence leaked through the air for many minutes. Before one person from each group began with "Anyway..."

_**-Break-**_

"Hello my name is Jiraiya!" Jiraiya bellowed loudly as he entered the room, the adoring look on the children's faces just inflated his ego ten fold. Murmurs of Jiraiya of the Sannin being here meant that the rumours were true and a Sannin was taking on a team.

Jiraiya smiled widely, he really was perfect in every way, but if he had a flaw it would be that he did like the attention of others. "I'm here to pick up my team. Would..." Every Genin sat on edge. Hoping for their name to be called.

Jiraiya coughed, gaining everyone's attention. "Minato Namikaze, Teuchi Ichiraku and Mikoto meet me at the hot springs immediately for team introductions." Jiraiya quickly vanished.

A collective group of moans and groans resounded. Mikoto and Teuchi quickly left the room, heading straight for the hot springs.

Minato sat still, a distasteful look upon his face. _'Why did it have to be Jiraiya?'_ It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but the hot springs was where he first met Jiraiya, where he was peeping on the women. As he slowly stood up, one thought went through Minato's mind. _'I do hope this isn't going to be what I think it is.'

* * *

_**A/N: **Well, how was that? Review please. As I said before not much different, but it's more acceptable.

Next chapter will be team introductions and hopefully more conversation between Minato and Kushina.

I have a villianous organisation planned, there not Akatsuki, there nothing like Akatsuki. The group's called Zangai, that's more of a reminder to myself. But they won't be here for a while. At least until Minato's about 14-15. Right now, he's 10.

Rightio. Other than that, I want to wish you a merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah (sorry if I spelt that wrong) or whatever your holiday is this season. And remember the meaning behind the holiday season, that's it's not how much you get, it's who you're with. So I know this sounds cheesy and stuff but spare a thought for those whose husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters who can not be with them this season, who are still in the Middle East or have been lost there. Thank You.


	4. Chapter 4: Familiarity

**SHOCK HORROR I'VE UPDATED!**

**A/N:** Sorry! Yo! But seriously, It's been a long time since I've updated, I've been focusing a lot on To Become A Master, because that was the one I was getting the most criticisms aboot, so now it's Becoming The Legend's turn. This really needs developing and needs to start making large leaps forwards. And this chapter did not do that at all. I couldn't think of what to write, so I just left it at a good point to start the next chapter.

Anyway, there's been some changes to the plot. Things I've recently mulled over in my head and I thought, screw it why not. So Fugaku is no longer the future head of the Uchiha Clan, well he is, but he's not the head's son. You know how in the manga, the Uzumaki clan and the Senju clan are distant relatives, bvut despite that Mito Uzumaki and the first Hokage Hashirama Senju still got married, well I'm playing that card. Fugaku will marry into the head spot, being a distant relative to her but still within the Uchiha clan. So basically Mikoto's the future head. But don't worry, all will be explained, some soon, some muuuuch later.

Well that's about it for now, see you in however long it takes you to finish reading this chapter.

* * *

The streets of Konoha erupted in celebration. Roars of laughter and a sea of smiles flooded the streets. Even from the distance the Hot springs were from the villages street's it could be heard faintly, but clearly.

"What is all the fuss about?" Minato asked, his head turned to the cheering in interest.

Jiraiya sat cross-legged on top of a frog, turning around on top of it and putting his monocular back safely in his jacket. Lazily looking over to the noise he dully told them. "It appears that Sakumo Hatake's wife has conceived a child."

All three of their eyes widened with the news. "You mean-"

"Yep. In about nin months there going to be a little white fang." Jiraiya smiled, gesturing his hand to make the small stature of a person. "But anyway, onto the introductions. My name is Jiraiya, but you probably already knew that." Jiraiya beamed. Pointing to each of them one by one he asked for their names.

"Minato Namikaze."

"Mikoto"

"Teuchi Ichiraku."

"Right. Well Minato, Mikoto, Teuchi. Here's the point when I ask you your hobbies, your interests and your dreams. But I don't wanna. Mainly because I don't really care. So instead I'm going to ask each of you one question, and depending on your answer, I will allow to pass the first part of my own exam." Jiraiya explained. He quickly pointed to each of them, he began with Teuchi.

The older boy seemed hesitant. "I-I want to prove that you don't need to be descended from a special clan in order to be a good ninja."

Jiraiya nodded, before looking over to Mikoto. "I want to prove that I can be a valuable ninja, capable of keeping important secrets."

Jiraiya seemed puzzled by her answer, but quickly shook away the thoughts turning to Minato. Minato smiled widely. "Like Teuchi, I want to prove that you don't need a special ability to protect your home. I want to become a Hokage that is loved by everyone."

Jiraiya sat still and silent on his toad for a while, before grinning widely. "You pass!" The three children's eye lit up. "Now my first command as your sensei for you guys is...GO TAKE A HIKE!"

The three looked at him confused. "I don't want to teach you anything today and you probably want to celebrate being accepted under the amazing Jiraiya's tutelage. But we begin training tomorrow, so meet me at training ground 17 at 7:30am!" He quickly turned back to facing the fence of the hot spring, pulling out his monocular again, his childish giggling beginning instantly.

The three kids knew they didn't want to be around when he was caught, all three began taking off in their own directions. Minato heading to the park near the river.

_**-Break-**_

As Minato walked slowly through the small forestry, his mind wandered. He wondered how much he could learn from Jiraiya, how long it would be until he became a Chunin, how long it would take to become Hokage.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of faint talking, this was a private area, not many people came in here. Minato ducked behind the trees, peeking around it he saw a small girl with long red hair. He hadn't expected Kushina to be at Nakano river. He peeked round to see who she was with. A much older woman was hand in hand with her as the stood on the bridge.

'_Mito-sama!_' Minato thought shocked as he recognised the Shodaime Hokage's wife. '_How does __Kushina know her?'_ Minato leaned in slightly, trying to hear their conversation.

"No one wants me here Mito-san. And after that is performed I'll probably be kicked out of the village." Kushina let go of the older woman's hand, to rest her head on her crossed arms, looking over the rail of the bridge.

"Please remember Kushina.." Mito smiled down at her. "We came here to be the vessels... But before that, we must find love and fill the vessel with it."

Kushina looked up at Mito, a few tears forming in the younger girls eyes. She hugged the older woman.

'_Vessels?_' Minato asked himself curiously. '_For what?_'

"And I believe that the love you seek, is just on the horizon." Mito spoke softly, her eyes darted to where the small blonde boy believed he was successfully hiding from her. Kushina looked around to the direction Mito was looking.

Minato watched both of them stare in his direction. He had been caught, he stood up quickly and walked out into the opening. Kushina's eyes widened when she saw him. "Oh it's you." She spat out.

"Hey." Minato weakly smiled and waved. "Er... I wanted to say congratulations on passing." Minato stammered out, talking to a girl was hard!

Kushina only scoffed and looked at him weirdly. "How a flaky little wimp like you made rookie of the year I'll never know."

"If you wanted the title, take it." Minato replied, quickly and bluntly. "Go around and call yourself rookie of the year, the title is meaningless to me. If that's what brings you happiness, go for it. I don't need it to achieve my own happiness."

"And that is?" Mito butted in, these two were quite cute together.

Minato looked up at the most powerful figure head still alive in Konoha and grinned widely. "Becoming Hokage!"

Mito smiled in return. She could see Hashirama's spirit in this young boy. He just might be the next Hokage.

Unfortunately her fellow Uzumaki clan member couldn't see it. Kushina scoffed loudly at the idea.

"So why are you really here?" Kushina asked rudely. "If it's to call me Tomato!" She shook her fist threateningly, her hair beginning to rise up wildly.

Minato threw up his hands in defence, slowly backing away from the girl. "Actually that wasn't it. I think it's a stupid name. I only came to say hi. Hi." He waved quickly, Kushina looked at him skeptically, yet for some reason he could have sworn her cheeks were alittle tinted.

Mito looked at the little scene in front of her. _'A nice boy. He'll be the one.'_ She looked down at her small angry companion. _'He'll be the one to fill her with love.'_ The small blush on Kushina's face was all the evidence she needed. "Well Kushina, my training begins today, you first training session will be to spend a day with this boy. Develop socially first, learn to trust others." The old woman spoke with a smile, slowly walking away from the little couple she had just created.

"W-Wait, Mito-san!" Kushina called out. She didn't want to spend a day with this guy. But if it was for training, she would have to. She turned to look at Minato darkly, who looked just as shocked as she did. Noticing her stare, he chuckled weakly. Kushina let out a sigh in annoyance. "Let's go." She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away before he had a chance to react.

_**-Break-**_

Kushina had finally stopped dragging Minato across the streets, they walked side by side in complete silence. Minato not knowing how to start the conversation, and Kushina not wanting to start the conversation.

"So..." Minato finally broke the silence. "You're not from Konoha, what was your old home like?"

Kushina looked startled by the question. "You really want to know?" Her reply was a quick nod on Minato's part. "Well Uzushiogakure was small. But it was a happy place. The shinobi never seemed to have a need to fight, because no one could find our village in the whirlpools."

"But then that all changed, people began looking for us. They wanted to get rid of us. So they destroyed my home, reduced it to rubble. My parents died protecting me. And my big brother..." Kushina began remembering everything that happened during Uzu's purge. The screams of terror, the blood dyeing the sparkling blue sea.

"..The last time I saw him he was pushing me out of the way of a collapsing building. I looked for him, but the elders told me to escape to Konoha. That it was desperately important that I survived. The next thing I knew, Mito-san was looking down at me."

"I see." Minato listened intently to her story. Her one answer brought so many more questions for him, but he knew that it was probably for the best that he didn't ask them.

"You see that red symbol at the back of the Chunin vests." Kushina pointed to all the backs of the shinobi. "That's Uzushiogakure's symbol. Our two villages were very close."

"Oh." Minato looked at the symbol on the back of a passing shinobi's vest. "I thought it represented our shinobi's unending love for our village."

"What about you, blondie?" Kushina quickly asked in a sarcastic tone. "Any sob stories for the Rookie of the Year. Or was your life always so easy and perfect?"

Minato frowned in annoyance at how she asked the question. "We've just come out of a war as well, you know. You weren't the only one to lose everything."

"Oh yeah, and what did you lose?" Kushina spoke as if she was a spoiled brat, as if she knew everything about the world.

"My parents, my home." His answer certainly shut her up, she leaned back from her forward bending position, her cocky smug face being replaced with one of guilt.

"We were nearing the end of the war. My parents were on a scout to remove traps from use. They were ambushed. Kumo ninja attacked from every side, they shouldn't put family on the same squad. My father protected my mother, at the cost of his own life. My mom lost her mind seeing my dad's lifeless body fall to the floor. She went into a blind rage, she broke battle formation and rank. She wanted revenge, and she got it. She got herself killed in the process, but she killed the guy who killed her love. I was seven. They weren't going to let a seven year old keep such a large house to himself, so I was moved out of the house I grew up in, I think it was used as a makeshift hospital. So I spent my academy years alone, without parents, and without any prestige that would make people acknowledge me, so I decided I would become a Hokage that everyone loves. And protect this village like it was my family. It's the only family I've got left."

Kushina had become very interested with her shoes during his story. "I'm sorry." She whispered out to him a few seconds after he had finished his tale.

"It's alright." Minato replied almost instantly, but he wasn't cheerful about it. "If it wasn't for Shikaku and his mom and dad. Who knows how I would have turned out. They were always there if I needed someone to talk too." Minato finished._ 'But why am I telling her all this, I barely even know her. Am I really so at ease around her.'_

"I don't have anyone." Kushina smiled weakly. "I can't talk to anyone, and even if I did no one would talk back. I can't rely on Mito-san forever, and she could never really understand. She is truly loved by everyone."

Minato glanced over to the girl. Pity for her filled his every cell. "Well, if you want..." He began slowly. "If you ever wanted someone your age to talk to. You can come talk to me."

Her smile seemed to have more heart in it this time, she playfully punched him on the shoulder. Minato winced slightly, her playful punches still hurt a lot. "You know what flaky, your alright."

_**-Break-**_

Minato entered his home, a smile smile still present on his face. He had spent the entire day talking to Kushina. He was quite surprised, the girl could really chatter on. He figured that that was probably because she had never had a real conversation with anyone for a while.

But some of the stuff she had spoke about. That soon he won't even want to talk to her. And that her purpose for living was approaching soon. She sounded like she was selected to be a sacrifice or something. It was a bit scary.

But Kushina. She was a nice girl, albeit the talking his ear off and the bruising of his shoulder by too many of her playful punches. She was good to talk too, because she never ran out of things to say, she had led an interesting life already. Minato wished that he could have asked more questions.

What she had told him about Uzushiogakure fascinated him. How the village was carved out of an undersea rock that was exposed when two currents going in the opposite directions, collided with it, wrapping around and combining with each other, splitting the sea above and leaving the rock to be dried and ready for people to accommodate it. He wished that he could have seen it.

She also had told him how her clan, the Uzumaki clan, prided themselves in Fūinjutsu, most of them would be considered forbidden anywhere else. According to Kushina, the elder of the village held a seal that would allow the transfer of a life force of one into the body of another.

This only fuelled Minato's interest in seals. What couldn't they do! He would make sure he learned seals. Perhaps Kushina might already know some.

Minato rustled through his fridge, taking a small snack and eating it quickly, tomorrow was the start of his training under Jiraiya. Something he had only remembered when he looked at the small toad, the toy was fluffy and stuffed and had been mysteriously placed on his balcony the day before today.

'It was probably Jiraiya-sensei.' Minato told himself, although Jiraiya-sensei just didn't sound right yet. Crawling into bed he shut his eyes, hoping sleep would engulf him. After all, tomorrow was going to be an eventful day. And the start of his bright future.

* * *

**A/N:** Well how was it. Review please. Quite franky, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. It was longer than chapter 3, but I'll really need to sit down and do some hard thinkings in order to make some plans up for this. I have a few, some involving the origins of Ichiraku Ramen.

Next chapter, geez, I really can't give you a date. I need to continue Those Eyes (Title subject to change) and A Complete Family Incomplete is my number one priority as a writer, so I need to update that, but I need to continue this as well, but I've also begun to lose the will to type. And I may take a Hiatus next month as that is my month of birth. Plus I'd like to update another story so I can apply for Betaism. And do some Beta work to hone my own skills. So much to do. But you guys probably don't care about all that. You entertainment hungry ravenous dogs probably just want to know when the next update is :). Expect some time later this month or a March release.

Well that's it for me this time.

Any comments and criticisms appreciated. I'm glad I was able to provide you with roughly 15 minutes of reading and/or entertainment, you will never see those 15 minutes again. Please do not sue me for that.

Rinne-Kami, Out!


	5. Chapter 5: Approval

**A/N:** Yo! Been a good month since I updated this, I've had problems thinking of ideas for this fic. I had one, thats the reason why Mikoto became the future head of the Uchiha Clan instead of Fugaku, but I kinda forgot it, perhaps you can help me, give me suggestions as to why that would be, anything that can help me jog my memory, all I know is that the reason does not involve MinatoXMikoto.

Anyway, onto the chapter, I was reluctant to write it, but was I began I couldn't stop, I really enjoyed writing it. I'm surprised I made it 3000 words long, seeing as I only planned two scenes when writing the plans for it. We get to see some team bonding as well as Jiraiya's test.

Well that's about it, see you in however long it takes for you guys to read the chapter.

* * *

"Right! Today's the day of your test. I hope you're all prepared!" Jiraiya shouted at the three Genin, waking them up slightly. "You're goal is to capture and ensnare me. If you do so, you pass, if not...well you probably don't want to think about that."

The three genin's eyes widened dramatically, understanding the underlying message to Jiraiya's words.

"You have two hours. Begin!" Jiraiya called loudly, instantly his body erupted in smoke, giving of a loud poof, once the smoke had cleared there was no Jiraiya where Jiraiya had once stood.

"It was Shadow Clone!" Minato called in realisation. '_He had already planned ahead to create distance between us and himself, perhaps we've seriously underestimated his planning abilities._'

"We need to find him and fast!" He turned to Teuchi and Mikoto, who both nodded in approval.

"Should we split up?" Mikoto asked, looking to the other two.

"No, when does that ever work. If we split up and one of us finds him, there's no way we could defeat one of the Sannin. Let's stick together and patrol the forest. He won't be that far away out of it." Minato explained, an idea forming in his head.

"But how will we find him? He has so much more experience than us at dodging his enemies." Teuchi responded, seriously doubted any chance of them passing in his mind.

"We'll work as a team." Minato explained, moving closer to Mikoto and Teuchi. "As we move, I will stay one foot in front of you two, during our movement's Mikoto, you focus on looking to the right for any sign of Jiraiya-sensei, Teuchi, the same for you but to the left. I will focus on looking straight forward for any indications."

Mikoto nodded in approval. "That may work, we'll be constantly looking over 270° of the area around us."

"Yes and when I give a signal, we will stop movements and turn around, making sure that that last 90° is well covered as well." Minato finished off. "Now lets go, we've wasted enough time."

The three took off, leaping into the branches off the surrounding forest. They moved in perfect unison, surprising for a newly formed team. Minato gave the signal every 50 metres, each one grinding to a halt quickly and spinning around, scanning the area behind them for the faintest of non natural movement, upon deciding that it was clear the team carried on, their plan working in some way or form.

But Jiraiya was nowhere to be seen, and following this plan continuously they had wasted 30 minutes of their 2 hour deadline.

Minato gave a sign for them to stop, they landed in a small circle opening in the middle of the forest, crouching to one knee the team began to form a new plan.

"The idea was good, but its not getting us anywhere. We need a new strategy if we are going to have any hope of catching Jiraiya-sensei." Minato was the first to speak, criticising his own plan, he had caused the team to waste half an hour, if they failed it would be all his fault.

"There has to be something about Jiraiya that we can capitalise on." Mikoto spoke, looking at Teuchi and Minato for some kind of answer.

"Well, what do we know about him. There has to be some clues that he's shown us, even if it's accidental." Minato asked the other two, who began pondering the question."

"Well...Jiraiya-sensei is the Toad Sage." Teuchi finally added after a moment of thinking.

"He's also a major pervert." Mikoto quickly added, a small amount of anger present in her voice.

Now that Minato thought about it, they didn't know much about Jiraiya after that. "He also studied under the Sandaime Hokage with Orochimaru-sama and Tsunade-sama." Minato added his own piece of general knowledge to the situation.

"Well perhaps we should go find one of them, they might be able to help us." Teuchi proposed, looking towards the other two.

"That might take longer than finding Jiraiya-sensei himself." Minato answered, looking up towards the sky. "We should go back to where the test began, if we arrive early, Jiraiya will also turn up a few minutes before the exam finishes to fail us. When he does..."

"It will give us a chance, albeit a very small chance to capture him, as he won't have been expecting us to move from the original position." Mikoto finished off for him.

"Right. All we have to do is pick the perfect hiding place." Minato flashed a smile and a wink, before gesturing the two of them to follow him back to the location where the test began, still looking out for any signs of Jiraiya on the way back.

They arrived back in their starting destination, still as empty as when they began, the pond in the middle of the field glistening off the sun, they only other source of animal life besides them was a small reddish toad sitting at the edge of the pond, which had been there since they had arrived.

"Right, everyone split up and find a good hiding spot." Minato spoke with authority, he didn't like to play the leader, but it was his fault they wasted so much time, he felt obligated to make sure Mikoto and Teuchi passed.

Mikoto and Teuchi both headed towards the trees in opposite directions, trying to look for a suitable spot to wait and hide, Minato himself looked towards the pond, seeing if there was a deep enough bank to lay on to be removed from vision.

"There's got to be a decent hiding spot close by." Minato mumbled loudly to himself. "Somewhere where Jiraiya won't suspect."

He suddenly heard a giggling, it was quiet and...echoing? Minato looked around for the source, his ears attracting him towards the toad sat just at his feet. The toad's mouth wasn't moving at all, but Minato was sure this was where the giggling was coming from.

Minato leaned a fraction of an inch forward, trying to block out all other sounds.

"_They'll never find me in here!"_ The voice echoed, followed by another giggling. It all came from within the toad. Minato's eyes widened.

_'That was definitely Jiraiya's voice, so he's been here all along. I have to tell the others!'_ Minato thought, he looked around, feigning surprise upon looking towards the forest.

"Hey guys! I found a good spot!" He called loudly, attracting Teuchi and Mikoto's attention. They both came out of the trees, moving towards him, Minato himself moving towards them to close the gap.

Once they had arrived, Minato gave a signal with his hand to keep quiet. "Guys, don't look to it. But Jiraiya-sensei is inside that Toad." Minato whispered, his eyes darting towards the toward to the left behind him.

"Really? What makes you think that?" Teuchi whispered in return.

Minato gave a smirk. "Because he's the toad sage after all." He patted Teuchi on the shoulder. "I have a plan, just follow my lead."

"Yeah, I saw a good hiding place over there, we can wait for Jiraiya to arrive back here there." Minato acted, he was loud, but not overly loud, he was sure Jiraiya couls see through the eyes of the toad, or at least still hear him.

Minato took off into the would, going North-west. Teuchi and Mikoto right behind him.

"Where are we going, Minato?" Teuchi asked after a few minutes of following Minato around the forest.

"What were the two things that we knew about Jiraiya-sensei?" Minato smiled from over his shoulder at the two of them.

"That he's the toad sage." Mikoto spoke confused, not really knowing where the blond boy in fornt of her was going with this.

"Right! And... he's a major pervert." Minato looked towards him now, smiling confidently, and a little bit evilly. _'We can do this!'_

_**-Break-**_

"So they waiting until the last few minutes of the test for me to arrive, then their gonna give me the old surprise attack." Jiraiya spoke from within his Toad, after watching them take off in some direction to hide and wait for him to show up a good ten minutes ago. "Well I'm gonna stay here until the last few seconds, so they will automatically lose." He chuckled mischievously. '_And that Minato kid had talent, I thought he spotted me there for a moment, ah well, better luck next year for him.'_

His thoughts were interrupted by a very heavy, very feminine sigh, he peered through the eyes of the Toad. "Whoa!" Was his instant reaction.

A very curvaceous woman stood in the middle of the field, she seemed saddened, she looked around as if she was lost, the small, tight fitting green dress she was wearing shifting higher and higher with every movement.

"Come on, come on. Just a bit more." Jiraiya peered with glee, the woman's dress rising so he could see the bottom of her underwear, he groaned as the woman pulled the dress back down.

She spinned around once again, her long brown her and busty chest bouncing around with the spin. "Oh, I'm so lost, Konoha was too big for a simple girl like me! Now I can't find my friends and I'm all alone. I wish someone big and strong could come and lead me back to town!" She was close to crying, her hand crashed together in a praying motion, squeezing her chest together.

"YOU RANG!" Jiraiya dived out of the Toad, standing up straight, puffing out his chest for a macho effect.

A smile on the woman's face masked her sadness, she hurried towards him. "Wow! I can't believe how connected to animals you are! To be able to be allowed to ride inside them, how lucky you are!" The woman sighed happily towards him.

A blush spread across Jiraiya's face, he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Well actually it's only toads." Jiraiya chuckled out.

"Well, you know, toads are my favourite animal." The woman smiled towards him, giving him a wink. Suddenly her face went to a shocked one. "Wait a minute... a strong connection to Toads...are you, Jiraiya of the Sannin?" The woman asked, pointing towards Jiraiya.

"Oh, so you've heard of me." Jiraiya gave a wink, pointing to his face with his thumb.

The woman squealed loudly, glomping onto him, Jiraiya let out a satisfied laugh. "I can't believe it! I'm not a ninja, I'm just a tourist from Kusa, but I've heard all about the three Sannin, when I heard that one specialised in Toads, I knew that he was the one ninja I wanted to meet!"

"Minnie-chan, there you are!" Before Jiraiya could respond two more women came from the road, both equally as busty and curvaceous as the woman in front of him who was currently hugging him. One of the two approached wore a similar, albeit red dress, with shoulder length silver hair, styled to look choppy and spiky, curling at the tips. The other wore a blue dress, equally as short as Minnie's, her hair was the longest of the three's, and a brown colour to match Minnie's as well.

The two women approached them. "We've been looking all over for you, Minnie-chan, Millie-chan was getting really worried." The one with the red dress spoke. While the other one, Jiraiya presumed to be Millie, looked quite close to crying.

"I'm alright, and look, Millie-chan, Mickey-chan, this is Jiraiya, you know, of the Legendary Sannin." Millie spoke in return.

The two women hugged him as well, Jiraiya's previous satisfied laugh was greatly overpowered by a new one.

"Thank you for helping my little sister, Jiraiya-sama." Millie spoke into his shoulder, hugging him tightly.

"You're sisters?" Jiraiya spoke shocked, his voice unstable.

"Twins actually." The two women pressed the faces together, giving Jiraiya the same wink and smile.

"T-Twins." Jiraiya's mind was beginning to shut down, he just couldn't compute this, a small trickle of blood came from his nose. His mouth hung loosely, staring at the two women in front of him.

"How can I ever repay you for helping my baby sister." Millie spoke seductively, leaning in extra close to him.

"B-Back off, Millie, I was hear first!" Minnie shouted in return, grabbing Jiraiya herself.

"Don't forget about me." The final girl, Mickey spoke. "He's pretty cute." She gave him a wink.

The faces of the women turned to irritation, they all began pulling on Jiraiya, begging him to go with them, Jiraiya stood in the middle of them, being pulled in three different directions hard. But he didn't care, his head lolled backwards, sighing up into the sky, letting out a wholehearted giggle.

_'Did I die of suffocation in that Toad?'_ Jiraiya's mind pondered, as he played the rope in a three way tug of war competition.

He was suddenly tackled to the ground, the three women clamouring on top of him, fighting over who gets to have him.

_'I died, I definitely died. This is heaven.'_ He sighed in content, letting the three women fight over him with the widest of grins on his face.

Three poof sounds rang through his ears, he opened his eyes, on top of him sat Minato on his chest and Teuchi and Mikoto holding down his legs. The cockiest of smirks present of Minato's face.

"A ninja must look underneath the underneath. And exploit any weakness the enemy shows, even if the enemy doesn't even know it's their weakness." Minato spoke cockily to him. He looked over to the clock sat on a rock near the pond. "We've still got 35 minutes spare, I guess we pass, eh Jiraiya-sensei." Minato's eyes darted back towards the subdued Jiraiya, the grin on his face expanding in proportion.

'_They caught me, they exploited my weakness to such an extent. I should have known, no women take that much interest in me!_' Jiraiya mentally beat himself up. The weight disappeared from his body, Jiraiya felt himself being pulled back to his feet by Minato. Who smiled widely at him, Jiraiya smiled in return, ruffling the boy's blonde locks. "Looks like you guys pass. We're done for the day, I won't keep you any longer, I'll go confirm to Sarutobi-sensei that this team is now official and then we'll get our official team photo."

_**-Break-**_

"Can I try a new camera angle with you guys?" The cameraman asked Jiraiya's team. "I'm getting so bored of the standard pose."

"Sure, this will be a team for the history books, we should have an original photo as well!" Jiraiya grinned at the Photographer.

"Thanks!" The man smiled, grabbing a ladder, he placed it near the team, he climbed a few steps, so his camera was looking ever so slightly above them. "Now could the blondie move to in front of Jiraiya."

Minato switch places with Teuchi, who now stood at the end, Mikoto standing in the middle between him and Minato, Jiraiya standing behind them. "That's good, now could you look over into the distance that way." He pointed to Mikoto, who looked directly forwards, for the camera to catch the left side of her face.

"Finally, can the boy in the middle stair that way." The man pointed in a diagonal position behind him. "Good. And could blondie and the sensei look at the camera, no, don't move your heads, just your eyes." He spoke, Jiraiya and Minato tilted there heads just a tad upwards, their eyes moving to look at the camera.

"Excellent, now..." The camera flashed, taking the picture. "Your Official Genin photo has been taken, perhaps my best one yet!" The cameraman smiled at the group. "You're free to go."

"Well, get home and celebrate." Jiraiya congratulated them. "Because tomorrow's going to be the hardest training of your life." Jiraiya grinned. Already leaving to file the team formation to the Sandaime Hokage.

Teuchi took off home, Mikoto began walking as well, turning around to see Minato standing still. "What are you waiting for...Minnie-chan." She smirked deviously, giving him a sly wink.

Minato paled at the nickname, a sweatdrop falling from his face. "N-No fair, don't start calling me that, it was just for capturing Jiraiya-sensei."

The girl smiled, turning around. "Whatever, but it was your idea, see you around, Minnie-chan." The girl waved over her shoulder, before jumping off the building, landing on the ground below and casually walked away.

"W-Wait! Mikoto, stop calling me that! It's not funny anymore!" Minato ran after her, jumping from the building onto the floor, before running in the direction in which Mikoto had walked. "Don't tell anyone about that!"

The girl laughed, now running as well. "What's the matter, Minnie-chan! Can't keep up?" The girl shouted from over her shoulder.

"Don't call me, Minnie-chan!" Minato screamed towards the girl, who was a fair few metre in front of her.

"Minnie-chan." A voice scoffed, halting Minato in his tracks, there stood Shikaku, Inoichi, Choza and Tsume, all covering their mouths with their hands, trying to suppress the laughter.

Minato's shirt slid from his shoulder. He scowled, his eyebrow rose as he looked at the foursome. "You gotta be kidding me." He spoke annoyed before the four erupted in laughter.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, how was it? In my own honest opinion I'd give it a 8.5/10. Very enjoyable, good humour, and surprising no action in a test exam. They had to capture and subdue him, they never said anything about fighting him. We see Minato's budding natural leadership, as well as a bit of banter between Mikoto and Minato, for all those who suggest a bit of MinatoXMikoto.

Next chapters will include some training, their first mission, and Teuchi's resolve, and a bit of background about Mikoto (if I can remember) and Teuchi (who I have a good story planned out for). I tried to make their picture reminiscent of their actual team photo, I haven't seen it in a while and probably should have looked it up first, oh well, what you gonna do. It was mainly just to fill in some words.

I'll be updating The Best Years Fly By Quickly and A Complete Family, Incomplete next, followed by a The Tools We Use and hopefully another Fairy Tail Utopia update before February is over, so expect the usual monthly March release.

Well, that's about it.

Til Next Time,

Rinne-Kami, Out!


	6. Chapter 6: Teuchi's Plight

Minato panted as he jumped through the trees, jumping agilely from branch to branch high from the ground. _'These weight seals are incredible, I can feel them improving my strength, endurance and speed...'_ He thought with wonder, he remembered when Jiraiya first pulled out the paper seals, he thought they wouldn't do much for training, that was until Jiraiya attached them to their bodies and activated them. Suddenly his body felt that it was triple it's usual weight.

"Minne-chan!" Mikoto called from behind, him. He grumbled in annoyance, she had grown accustomed to using that name ever since their graduation test against Jiraiya. He didn't want to ignore her, so reluctantly he turned to face her. "Slow down! You too far ahead, wait for me and Teuchi!"

She was correct, Minato stood many metres in front of them, he had adapted to the seals quicker than Mikoto and Teuchi. He could see Mikoto catching up as he stopped on a branch, but looking behind her Teuchi was nowhere to be seen. He remembered when they first started, Teuchi had problems getting to the highest branches, and when he was finally up there I the trees he was slow to jump from branch to branch.

_'What's going on? Teuchi is six years older than us. He should be faster and stronger than that? Stronger and faster than us at the least.'_ Minato looked back still, finally sighing in relief when Teuchi's larger frame jumped into view.

Teuchi continued moving closer until he stopped on the same branch as Minato. "Minato, are you alright?" He asked with concern in his voice.

"Uh... yeah, I'm fine." Minato replied with slight confusion. Teuchi was asking him if he was alright?

"Good, we should carry on then." Teuchi nodded before jumping to the next branch, Minato watched him land shakily, almost losing his balance on the branch before carrying on. Minato could only continue to stare at his older teammate, silently wondering what secrets lay behind him.

* * *

From afar, Jiraiya sat by a small pond watching the three students train. His eyes focused on Minato, mainly how he looked at Teuchi. _'Perhaps Minato has realised the same thing.'_ His eyes moved over to the sandy haired teen. _'Teuchi should be much further ahead than them two considering his age, he should be stronger and faster, yet he is the one furthest behind...'_

Jiraiya's eyes moved back to Minato and to the black haired Mikoto._ 'Both of them are exceptional, both strong, fast, agile and smart. They will both grow to be outstanding shinobi, I just hope that they are not going to be held back...'_ Jiraiya thought with a sad expression.

_'No. Teuchi is my student now, I can't think so negatively about him. Maybe he just needs something to help him shine, perhaps a first mission for the team...'_

* * *

"We'd like our first mission please, sensei." Jiraiya grinned like an idiot, Mikoto and Minato standing at his left and Teuchi standing at his right in front of the Sandaime Hokage's desk.

"Ah good, I was a little worried seeing as I haven't hear a mission request from you yet." The Sandaime replied with a dry chuckle, picking up the scroll of mission requests, he opened a range of them, reading through them. "There's a high number of D-Rank's available, ah but there is also a low C-Rank here as well."

"We'll take the C-Rank!" Jiraiya requested immediately, a C-Rank mission had a better chance of testing his new team's mettle. He chose to ignore Teuchi's gasp and moved forwards collecting the scroll.

The Sandaime held the scroll out for Jiraiya to take. "Usually we wouldn't let a fresh Genin team take a C-Rank, but seeing as your one of the Sannin, I'll make an exception." He spoke sternly, his hand loosening it's grip on the scroll when Jiraiya's own hand wrapped around it.

Jiraiya quickly scanned his eyes across the mission briefing in the report, nodding his head as he read through it. "Sounds good." He muttered, rolling the scroll back up and putting it in his pocket. "Right, we'll set off in two hours time, everyone met at the Eastern gates! Dismissed!"

* * *

"Are you all prepared?" Jiraiya had seemed to take on a more serious manner, holding himself up in a less goofy way. Teuchi, Minato and Mikoto all nodded back towards him, shuffling the backpacks on the backs. "Good, then I will give you the details of the mission while we walk. Let's move out."

Jiraiya turned, leading the team of four out of Konoha and into the woods surrounding it. Minato and Mikoto walked behind Jiraiya, whilst Teuchi covered the rear, standing just behind them two.

"Right, so here's the mission: A group of bandits has been terrorising a small village eastwards, by law that village is under protection of Konoha, due to lying within Hi no Kuni's borders and not having a defence system of its own. The bandits have been pillaging, stealing and raiding homes, Konoha has been asked to put a stop to them. So that is our mission, deal with the bandit problem." Jiraiya explained as briefly and as simply as possible, not looking back to catch their reactions.

"This doesn't sound like a C-Rank mission, it sounds like it should be higher than that. What's the catch? Why is it such a low ranked mission?" Mikoto asked sceptically, her eyes narrowing at Jiraiya's back who only laughed at her response.

"Ha, so one of you caught on!" Jiraiya laughed loudly. "All the bandits are very weak, with no extraordinary abilities or powers. They appear to just be normal men with incredibly evil intentions. Also because of that reason no one wants to take this mission, so they lowered the rank in order for fresher Genin teams to have the opportunity to undertake it. A C-Rank Mission accomplished looks good on any new Genin's profile." Jiraiya turned his head, grinning like a maniac.

"I still don't like the idea." Teuchi gulped, even while walking his body visibly shook and trembled.

It didn't stop until a comforting pat to the shoulder was delivered by Minato, who smiled confidently at the older teen. "Don't worry Teuchi, I'll protect you no matter what. I won't lose any of my comrades during a mission. That's a promise."

Jiraiya looked back at the two of them, smiling proudly at how Minato managed to calm Teuchi with such simple words. "Anyway, we'll continue walking for a few more hours before we set up camp for the night." Jiraiya added right at the end, turning to face the brown rocky road ahead.

* * *

"Wow, I got to say, Teuchi. That Ramen was unbelievable!" Jiraiya smiled widely, holding his stomach as he let out a content sigh. The sun had set on a long day of training and travelling, after making up camp Teuchi had volunteered himself to handle the preparation of a suitable meal. Creating a masterful Ramen dish in such a short period of time.

"Thank you," Teuchi bowed respectfully, collecting the dishes from each of them and putting them into the main serving dish where he cooked the Ramen. "I added a few extra ingredients that should boost your energy output in the next morning, so we should be raring to go with the Sun as it rises." Teuchi smiled, taking the pots and pans to the nearby river to wash them, it was close enough that they could alert the others of an ambush, but far enough to be out of civil speaking earshot.

"Let me help you with those, Teuchi. It's the least I can do." Minato smiled, picking up the final few dishes as he stood up and walked to the river, he found Teuchi already sat by the riverside, gently washing each dish in the flowing water.

"Teuchi..." Minato grasped the older teen's attention. Minato sat next to him placing one of the few dishes he brought with him in the river water. "I know it's not my place to ask something like this, and I know I shouldn't. But I just have to know, what is happening with you? You are older than us, so naturally you should be faster and stronger than us, but you are not. Why is that?"

A tear fell down Teuchi's face, and Minato regretted every word he had just said, regretted even broaching the subject in the first place. "I know I am." The choked out reply from Teuchi brought Minato out of his thought train of regret. "I know I am holding you and Mikoto out. I have no interest in becoming a ninja."

"So where does your interest lie?" Minato asked with surprise, he had never heard something like this before. Every shinobi he had ever spoke to loved their job completely, Teuchi hand even begun his career and he already hated it.

"Isn't it obvious?" Teuchi smiled, looking toward Minato, whilst holding up the large cooking pot, the moon glittered of the droplets of water clinging onto the pan, causing it to sparkle in the moonlight. "I love cooking, I love the creativity and complexity each dish brings to the chef. It is my dream to open up my own Ramen stand and become a renown chef. But my dream is unattainable." Teuchi's face fell again, he looked sadly at the pot in front of him. "My family have been ninja for generations, but I show no aptitude for the ways of the ninja. I must abandon my dream and become a ninja, lest I shame my family name."

"But you can make your family proud... by becoming successful." Minato smiled as he looked at their reflections in the river water. He saw Teuchi's head snap up in surprise, staring at him in shock. "You're a wonderful cook, a talent that shouldn't be wasted. Follow your dream and become successful, your family will care for you no matter what. And I'll be your first customer!" Minato added with a wide grin at the end.

Teuchi himself looked towards his reflection, rather, the man who he could become. Would he tell his children's children that he followed what society wanted from him, what his family wanted of him, or could he tell them with a smile on his face that he followed his dream, not knowing the consequences all in the pursuit of happiness. His answer was made up. "Yes, I'll do it..."

* * *

As soon as the sun lit the sky the group were up with it. Minato emerged out of his tent, rubbing the last bits of sleep from his eyes. Looking around he found both Mikoto and Jiraiya prepared, their tents taken down and ready to move. Minato's eyes widened dramatically. "I'm sorry! You've both been waiting for me!" He began rushing around his tent, pulling out the pins and rods to flatten it.

He stopped in his tracks suddenly, looking back towards the two of them in confusion. "Wait a minute, where's Teuchi?" He asked curiously, there was no sign of the older teen anywhere around, he had left for bed shorty after finishing his talk with Teuchi, the older teen insisting that Minato let him deal with the washing up.

Jiraiya's face formed a small, yet proud smile. "He has returned to Konoha, to follow his dream." He responded, holding up a small note. Minato rushed over to his sensei snatched the note from his hand.

_'Jiraiya-sensei, I'm sorry, but I have to leave. I know I am holding Minato and Mikoto back, and I know you feel the same way. I have no aptitude for the ways of the ninja. But no more, I will return to Konoha and walk my own path. I will follow my dream._

_Oh, and could you thank Minato for me. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have had the courage to do this...'_

Minato smiled as he read the contents of the note. _'Good for you, Teuchi. I hope you get everything you're looking for.'_

"I think he's made the right decision, to follow his dreams instead of being forced down a path he doesn't want to take." Jiraiya beamed proudly about his short lived pupil. "We are a man down, but we are continuing the mission, so it might be a bit harder now. You guys ready?"

Minato and Mikoto nodded in unison, their gazes hardening with excitement and determination. Jiraiya smirked in return. "Good, here's the new plan..."

* * *

**A/N:** Yo! Rinne here! Well this chapter was a big meh, in my opinion I found it abysmal, but I'll let you make your own opinions about it.

I've got nothing against this story, I like the idea. It just so gosh darn hard to write, like in Naruto central fics you have key points what you can work to, like do a little OC mission the go to wave, have a little OC time then go to Chunin Exams. But there's no key dates in Minatao's young life other than graduating at age ten. So I have to make it all up, and I'm not that good and making believable story lines yet.

Anyways, yes, Teuchi has left the team, and will make his return as the ramen stand owner who we all think: 'What actual significance does he have to the story?' I have another reason as to why Teuchi left but that will become clear later on.

Anyways, you know my last chapter when I mentioned I had a good idea about Mikoto but couldn't remember. Well Good news everyone! I've remembered what that was, it will become clear later on, perhaps next chapter.

Anyways, I've got chapter 15 of TBAM to be working on, then FTU and AKS. And if I've got time squeeze in a TBYFBQ so this might not update for a while, but I have no intention of discontinuing THIS fic.

Until Next Time,

Rinne-Kami, Out!


	7. Chapter 7: The Beginning of A Legend

The moon shone brightly through the dark clouds of the bandit hideout, the members inside completely unaware of the three lurking ninja just outside of the encampment hiding in a large bush on the edge of the forestry.

"We need an effective battle strategy in order to successfully defeat them." Jiraiya mentioned in a whisper to his two Genin. "Minato and I will take the front gate, I'll be the main force, Minato, you cover my back, enter 10 seconds after I begin and use your speed to deflect any attacks coming my way from a distance and eliminate any surprise attacks coming my way. Mikoto as we cause a distraction at the front you go round the back and eliminate any other guards you see, after all we don't know how strong the number of bandits is."

"I'll find out." Mikoto said, closing her eyes before snapping them open, her onyx eyes turn a blood red with three tomoe spinning in each eye. "There are twenty-five bandits on the outside, in the main headquarters there is another ten guarding a room with a final person by themselves." She explained quickly.

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed at the girl upon seeing her _**Sharingan**_ eyes. "Mikoto, your ten years old, how can you have a fully developed _**Sharingan**_ able to see chakra signatures so easily?"

"My full name is Mikoto Uchiha, and I'm not just any old Uchiha, sensei." She answered bluntly. "I was born to the head family, descended from Izuna Uchiha himself, he is my great grandfather."

Jiraiya's eyes widened at the revelation. "I never knew who the main family of Uchiha was descended from. To think it was Izuna Uchiha."

Minato's eyes darted between the two of them in confusion. "Who is Izuna Uchiha?"

"Izuna Uchiha was around before the founding of Konoha, he died shortly beforehand in battle. His older brother was the co-founder of Konohagakure itself, the first ninja village; Madara Uchiha." Jiraiya explained to the young blonde Genin.

"Madara Uchiha! The most evil man in Konoha's history!?" Minato's own eyes widened at the man's name, he turned towards Mikoto, who frowned back at him through her gleaming red eyes.

"You can't choose your ancestors and family." She replied to Minato's stare bluntly, knowing exactly what thought ran through his mind. "Besides not all the Uchiha are like him, Izuna-sama was peace loving, he lived in harmony with the world and his clan and was devoted to every single member of it, include the leader, Madara, his brother. Even the current head of the Uchiha clan, Kagami-san, my uncle was a comrade of the Sandaime Hokage, and remains to this day a close personal friend and advisor to him." She explained further, staring at both her sensei and teammate before looking back to the bandit camp. "Anyway, the briefing was correct, none of the bandits have ever used their chakra before."

"Then in ten minutes we make our move." Jiraiya nodded to the two of them, both nodded in return.

* * *

The door's slammed open with power to the shock of the bandits on the inside. "The Gallant Toad Sage has arrived!" A man with long white hair bellowed from the front. The bandits drew their weapons against this intruder and attacked.

Quickly Jiraiya dispatched the first few, his ninja skill far superior to their basic attacks. His kunai was more than enough to deal with them. Delivering quick successive blows and slashes with the kunai, killing each bandit before then next approached.

But as he was preoccupied with taking the life of one bandit, another approached him from behind with speed, his Kama ready to slice away at him. The man became to close to Jiraiya to allow the white haired ninja to turn and counter effectively.

Just before the slash came the bandit stopped, his face contorted with pain. Minato stood with a kunai firmly lodged in the man's stomach, both feet on other sides of the attack, Minato remaining horizontally in the air connected to the man.

Using the man as a pedestal, Minato sprung his legs, forcing the man backwards and himself forwards towards Jiraiya, the kunai now out of the man he had just killed. He used Jiraiya as a platform, placing one hand on his shoulder to shift his body, before deliver a powerful right kick to another bandits face, twisting his head fatally around.

'_Nice, Minato!_' Jiraiya thought with a grin at his blond student. The boy seemed to kill without hesitation, taking out a multitude of bandits quickly, using his speed and short stature to his advantage through quick weaving around his opponents and remaining low.

"I'm going ahead, sensei!" Minato spoke loudly to Jiraiya, before he made his way into the main building, several of the ten guards Mikoto said had been outside to confront them had left their posts to deal with the ninjas. Only two remained.

One went to slash Minato with his sword, yet the blond ducked beneath the sword, and kicked the man in the stuck from below, forcing him into the air slightly, with further reaction, Minato turn and drove the kunai into the man's chest.

The other guard approached, using the first guard's body, he threw the deceased man at the living guard, they collided, knocking the remaining guard off balance with his deceased comrade in his arms. Minato launched his Kunai at the man, hitting him in the shoulder. Then with further speed closed the gap, pulled the deceased man's sword from his lifeless grip and struck into through both of their chests. Both men dropped to the ground, the red liquid of life draining from the bodies onto the floor.

Minato then moved into the final centre room, where the lone man sat, his sword already drawn and on his lap. "This is my attacker? A fucking child!" The man screamed in fury. "I don't know what annoys me more! The fact I am viewed as so little a threat they send a child to dispatch me, or the fact that my men are so incompetent they can't even beat a child!"

"Doesn't matter now. Your reign of terror ends here." Minato's eyes darkened as the man ranted, he drew two more kunai from his pouch, clutching one in each hand.

The man gave off a scoff, standing to his feet. He gripped the sword, before letting out a war cry, charging at the small blond, he slashed once, and Minato deflected the attack with his kunai, knocking the sword out of his way, he then quickly stepped forward, and slashed the other kunai at the man's throat, blood shot out of the man's through, sprinkling into the air before he fell to the ground in agonizing convulsions.

"Mission complete." Was all the blond said as he waited for the thud of the bandit leader's body hitting the floor to resound, small sprinkles of the man's blood splashing onto his hair and face.

* * *

"I'll go hand the report into the Hokage, you two have the rest of the day off. Tomorrow morning meet at the 17th training ground for some more training, we're gonna have to mould you into the perfect two man team." Jiraiya said as soon as the three of them entered the grand gates of Konoha, he instantly disappeared with a _**Shunshin**_ leaving the two Genin alone.

"You didn't have to hog all the glory, Minnie-chan." Mikoto spoke to the blond Genin almost in a huff. "Taking out the bandit leader all by yourself and his bodyguards, you could have left some for me."

"There is no glory in a mission, Mikoto." Minato responded with a small smile, he had learned to block out her new, and apparently sticking nickname for him. "Only two things are important to a mission, success and teamwork. Besides, doesn't your clan have enough glory already?"

"But I don't want to live off my clan's glory." Mikoto responded quickly. "I don't want to be known as just another Uchiha, my name is Mikoto Uchiha, and I'll be the best Uchiha in history, even better than Madara!"

"But I thought Madara was a villain even in your clan?" Minato asked confused at the girl's remarks to the shinobi.

"He's a villain yes, but we admire his power. He was a great leader for our clan, and he was the only shinobi in all history who could compare and battle against Shodai Hokage-sama. He's the strongest person our clan has ever produced, and as my great granduncle, I will surpass him!"

Minato smiled at the girl for her confidence and aspirations. "Well that was our first mission and it was successful, plus we never really spoke during the academy, so do you want to get a celebratory lunch, Mikoto, so we can get to know each other better?"

Mikoto smiled in return at her blond teammate. "Sure, but I don't really no anywhere in town, Uchiha don't really venture out of their own district."

"I do." Minato returned, "There's a BBQ restaurant nearby, it's quite new and the food's good, I went a couple of time with Shikaku, Choza, Inoichi and Tsume when I had saved the money."

"Good, seeing as you asked and you're taking me to the place. That means you can pay." Mikoto answered with a cheeky wink and smile as she walked past her blond teammate, from the corner of her eye she could have sworn she saw him look towards his wallet.

* * *

Minato and Mikoto sat at a table in the BBQ restaurant, talking about their previous mission, when Minato noticed the long striking red hair enter the restaurant, two copies of it, one in a smaller form and the other in an elderly version.

"Kushina." He called out, getting out of his seat and moving towards her. "How are you?"

"Oh it's flaky." She responded dully, "I haven't seen you around for a few days."

"Jiraiya-sensei took us on a mission." Minato responded with a small smile in return to her.

"Unfair!" She screamed out. "Everyone in our class has done a mission except me!"

Minato looked back over to Mikoto, who sat quietly eating. "Listen, I'm with my teammate and it's rude to leave her alone, so do you want to join us?"

Kushina looked up to Mito who nodded in return with a smile. "You go, Kushina. I have to go speak to the Hokage anyway, enjoy yourself, Kushina." The elderly woman mentioned as she began walking away.

Minato led Kushina back to his table, taking his original seat and sliding along, letting Kushina sit next to him. "Kushina this is my teammate Mikoto, Mikoto, Kushina."

"Hmm, I guess this is different than usual, usually they team up the best student with the worst and someone in the middle, but you two ranked in the top three for best students, I figured you'd be stuck with that lazy idiot friend of yours, Shikaku." Kushina mentioned, not even bothered to ask for any of the meal in front of her, taking Minato's plate and piling it with meat.

"You can't even say that they were trying to separate friends, Inoichi, Choza and Shikaku all got the same team." Mikoto spoke in return, looking at her blond teammate, a sly smirk grew on her face. "Or maybe there was a conspiracy, and Minato failed his exams and was secretly the dead last, hence put on my team, sensei was so ashamed he altered his grades. Is that it, Minnie-chan?"

Minato's eyes widened with horror, even further when he heard the failure of repressing a snort of mocking laughter from his left. He's eyes turned to fearfully to Kushina, who upon making eye contact burst into a fit of loud laughter.

"Minnie-chan!?" She yelled in her fit of laughter. "God, just when I couldn't think you could get any more flakier, you went and pulled a stunt like that for a nickname!"

* * *

"So it was Minato who eliminated the leader of the gang." Hiruzen noted as he scanned over Jiraiya's poorly written report. "As well as a majority of the other bandits. Impressive…"

"The kid is more talented than I anticipated, sensei, and I knew he was good from the start." Jiraiya commented about the small blond Genin, whose skills finally shone out even more than they originally did in Jiraiya's eyes. "For a ten year old, his fighting prowess was immense, something you only see from clans or those who possess Kekkei Genkai. But it was his ability to kill that was astonishing, he had no moral qualms at taking a life in battle, for a ten year old fresh Genin that's something rare. But he didn't take pleasure in killing them, he made the decision that was best for the mission. He's got all the makings of a Hokage already."

"It's understandable that he would act like that in combat." Hiruzen replied, placing the report on his desk and meeting his student in the eye. "The boy grew up during a war, his family was lost during the war. In his mind, he can't afford to show weakness on the battlefield." Hiruzen spoke sternly before a small smile broke onto his face. "But Jiraiya, saying he already has the makings of a Hokage, you sure are placing a lot of faith into him aren't you."

"A teacher should never doubt his student, he should push them to attain the highest possible goal they can. Isn't that what you told me, sensei." Jiraiya grinned in return to his old sensei.

Hiruzen smiled further, Jiraiya had really grown from that stupid little pervert all those years ago. His smile faltered for a minute, thinking of days past with his Genin team, mainly between Jiraiya and his long black haired student. _'Did I put too much faith in the wrong one?'_

"Jiraiya." Hiruzen snapped his student's attention back to him, "I have governed Konoha through half of a world war, and a complete world war after, and many wars between them with other villages. I have grown tired of this, I'd like to spend time with my son before Biwako and I plan for another, and I'd like you to take over from me, as Hokage."

Jiraiya's eyes widened at his sensei's words, in all honesty he had never thought about attaining the rank of Hokage. "But I've just taken on a Genin team, I can't instruct them as Hokage!" Jiraiya responded, lying somewhat, he just needed a plausible excuse to turn the position down.

"You forget, I was Hokage when I taught you, Orochimaru and Tsunade." Hiruzen smiled at his student.

"But isn't Orochimaru or even Tsunade a better choice than an airhead like me? All the village want Orochimaru as the Hokage. Even Danzou is pushing Orochimaru's elevation to the title!" Jiraiya snapped back, growing fearful he might actually get stuck with the job.

Hiruzen's face turned to a stern, yet disappointed look at the mention of Orochimaru. "That's why I can't give Orochimaru the title. I trust Danzou with my life, but his actions, just like Orochimaru's have always been recluse and in the dark." Hiruzen responded flatly. "Besides… something's changed in Orochimaru."

"You noticed it too?" Jiraiya commented, causing his sensei to look up at him. "Orochimaru is my closest friend, I noticed when he went even more reclusive than usual, he just spends all his time out of the village taking missions, when he is here no one sees him."

"That's why it must be you who becomes Hokage in his place." Hiruzen responded. "You know him better than anyone, even better than me. You know what he can accomplish. He won't challenge you, Jiraiya. I have seen it in his eyes, he believes you've caught up too him, plus you attained Senjutsu, something Orochimaru highly revered."

"But I haven't even completed Senjutsu yet!" Jiraiya responded loudly and quickly. "Besides, that might not be the case anymore…" Jiraiya's eyes hardened towards his sensei, who matched the glare. Orochimaru founded it, one of the three sources of Senjutsu, _Ryūchidō_."

"Then he could attain Senjutsu himself, combining that with his love of Kinjutsu, he could become indestructible." Hiruzen sighed in serious contemplation.

"Give me ten years, sensei." Jiraiya spoke out, catching the older man by surprise. Ten years and you'll have you're replacement for Hokage in Minato."

Hiruzen chuckled once more. "Then perhaps you will be interested in this." Hiruzen answered, sliding a form in front of Jiraiya.

"Chuunin Exams? And their being held in Konoha?" Jiraiya said looking down with surprise at the form. "But I can't enter my team anymore, Teuchi retired, Minato and Mikoto don't have a third teammate."

"I have a solution for that problem." Hiruzen smirked once again. "A feisty girl who has been alone in her training who must be dying to see some action…"

* * *

As Minato, Mikoto and Kushina were conversing at the BBQ restaurant, stuffing their faces and chatting away, they were surprised when Jiraiya's cheerful voice boomed behind them.

"Oh! I'm glad you three have met again and are getting along!" Jiraiya grinned at the three confused Genin sat before him.

"Why's that sensei?" Minato asked, his wide eyes blink as a bit of meet hung out his mouth as he stared up at one of the legendary Sannin.

Jiraiya grinned wider down at the three of them. "Because, starting tomorrow…Kushina is going to be your third teammate for the Chuunin Exams I've just entered you in!"

* * *

**A/N:** Yo! This came out much later than I anticipated, it was supposed to be for my anniversary upload as a fanfic author, but I got so pre-occupied with my new job that I couldn't fit in time to get it written, anyways I hope you enjoyed it. There is a few things I should clear up.

Mikoto is an Uchiha as well as Fugaku, I know that leads to possible incest later on, but they are very very very distant relatives, kinda like how Hashirama and Mito are distant relatives yet they still got married. There is a strong resemblance between Sasuke and Izuna Uchiha, Madara's brother, and Sasuke got his looks from his mom so I played the old Sasuke-is-descended-from-Izuna card, I feel that is why Tobi took so much interest in him during his pretending to be Madara phase.

Minato only knows the academy justu, he has no special abilities yet, that will change in the upcoming arcs.

I mentioned a few chapters ago about Kushina's OC brother, well I finally got a name for him, but I'm gonna reread through this story and make sure I haven't given him a name already. He won't debut until after a time skip which is coming up shortly, I ain't chronicling Minato's entire life, just key points at it, otherwise this story could be well over 200 chapters.

Well that's all for now, see you all in Chapter 8: Sorrow


End file.
